“We, the undersigned, would like to register our concern over the contest you are now conducting…” begins the petition already signed by dozens of animators, arguing against contests, calls for content, crowd sourcing, or whatever you want to call it– essentially, spec work. Professional creatives are taking to the digital streets, with a thoughtful yet scathing critique:

“Design should not be a one-way street, with artists creating work in a vacuum. We believe the best design, art and content comes at the request of a specific brief, mission or client. Speculative design competitions and processes result in superficial assessments of the project at hand that are not grounded in a client’s specific needs. Art always has something to say.

There are few professions where all possible candidates are asked to do the work first, allowing the buyer to choose which one to compensate for their efforts. (Just consider the response if you were to ask a dozen lawyers to write a brief for you, from which you would then choose which one to pay!)”

Read the whole letter here. Motionographer has always had its thumb on the pulse of the creative community and this call to arms is no exception. Although crowd sourcing (in the form of contests) was initially (and continues to be) hyped as a new, democratic production model, it is suffering from  inevitable backlash, and agencies and brands should take notice.