Memes, Marketing, and Misuse

This Blog Series focuses on How and Why Businesses Use Other People’s IP Without Permission.

Code Academy has repurposed actor Sean Bean from The Lord of the Rings to advertise a coding teaching site.

Series Overview

Memes have become the shorthand of the internet—instantly recognizable, emotionally efficient, and culturally sticky. For marketers, that makes them irresistible. But many of the images, characters, screenshots, and artworks used in memes are protected intellectual property owned by artists, photographers, filmmakers, or studios. Increasingly, businesses are using these meme-based visuals in advertisements without permission, credit, or compensation. This is not right.

This blog series will explore how and why this happens, the legal gray areas unscrupulous businesses rely on, the real-world consequences for creators, and what ethical, legal alternatives exist.

Link to: Article 1: The Meme Gold Rush — Why Brands Can’t Resist Borrowed IP