Jean Jullien sat down with The Guardian to discuss the creation, sensation, and exploitation of his now famous “Peace For Paris” drawing.
The drawing became an icon of love and defiance in the wake of November’s terrorist attacks in Paris, garnering more than 175,000 likes on Instagram—and that was just on Jullien’s own account. Instagram’s “regram” of the picture captured more than 1.5 million likes. On Twitter, his post was retweeted over 60,000 times and favorited over 45,000 times.
Justin Lear from CNN almost immediately responded to the tweet: “This is so powerful. Would you be ok if all CNN platforms/affiliate could use your image if we give you full credit?” Jean’s response: “Yes.”
“‘Hello, we make knives and cutlery. We would love to use your image on cutlery. Could you show us a contract for licensing?'” he reads from his inbox. “…no. As nice as that is.”
Jullien talks about the emails he receives asking what about peace for Syria, Lebanon, etc. while working on a new illustration. “Yes, I fully agree, but am I gonna do a peace sign for every country in the world? That would be gimmicky. This is just one person’s naive desire for peace everywhere, obviously.”
The video points out that while Jullien does own the copyright on the image, he does not profit from its commercial use, nor does he license it for use on t-shirts, posters, or cutlery, and asks that those using the image for commercial purposes make matching charitable donations.
