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EDMONTON — Posters that parody a successful anti-rape campaign developed in Edmonton and now used worldwide are offensive and likely violate copyright rules, says a University of Alberta professor involved in developing the campaign.

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The posters put up around the University of Alberta campus and possibly downtown this week use images from the Don’t Be That Guy campaign and change the text to send the opposite message, said Lise Gotell, chair of the U of A’s department of women’s and gender studies and an expert on Canadian sexual assault law.

“What they’ve done is they’ve taken four of the posters we created and they’ve manipulated them,” Gotell said.

“These posters, I think, are quite troubling … What’s been done to transform an anti-sexual-assault campaign into a rape-apologist campaign is just deeply offensive.”

One of the Don’t Be That Guy campaign posters uses white text on a black background that reads: “Just because she’s drunk doesn’t mean she wants to f**k.” A rewritten ad posted online, labelled Don’t Be That Girl, reads: “Just because you regret your life choices, doesn’t mean it’s rape.”

Another unauthorized campaign image, which is posted around the U of A campus, includes the text: “Just because you regret a one-night stand, doesn’t mean it wasn’t consensual.”