Coca-Cola has teamed up with Blank You Very Much (BYVM) to launch a contest, for U.S. residents only, to redesign the brands most famous assets, which will be used on limited edition BYVM t-shirts and more.

The contest has strict rules and guidelines which you need to follow in order to win the 5,000$ Judge’s Choice grand prize. The guidelines are as follows:

• The archival assets selected as part of the asset pack cannot be altered or distorted in any way
• The Coca-Cola® logo can only be presented in Red and White – (Blue is expressly forbidden)
• Do not crop logo
• No international logos or flags may be used
• Must include the trademark sign
• When using the Coca-Cola® script it can only be placed horizontal and vertical – vertical script has to run from south to north
• The dynamic ribbon logo can only run horizontally
• Outline of the contour bottle needs to be pristine
• If any photography is used in the design, it cannot be of anyone other than the designer
• No children under the age of 13 may be used in photography
• Design theme should always reflect a balanced, healthy lifestyle
• All designs should be targeted to a 12 years and older demographic

Contest ends on October 29, and between October 30 and November 12 the BYVM community will vote on the submitted designs. The selected finalists will be judged by a panel of design experts.

Images: blankyouverymuch.com

Now, lets read the fine print.

“Entrant irrevocably and in perpetuity assigns to The Coca-Cola Company all worldwide right, title and interest in and to any Creation.  A Creation means any concept, artwork, design, image, model, or the like produced and submitted by Entrant. The Coca-Cola Company has the sole and exclusive right to apply, reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies, perform, display and license submitted Creations, without any obligation, financial or otherwise, to the Entrant.”

This means that Coca-Cola holds rights to ALL of the submitted designs, not just the grand prize winner.

“In addition, Entrants acknowledges that BYVM, and The Coca-Cola Company bear no responsibility to the Entrants in relation to the use of the Creations or elements of the Creation, even if said Creations or elements of the Creation substantially resemble or are identical to their submission.”

Your work, or any part of it can be used in future campaigns and you have no personal gain. This has sparked a lot of interest among the design community, and comments on BYVM an numerous sites say the same: Why does a huge company like Coca-Cola (recently voted 1# global brand) retain rights to the non-winners also? This looks like pure misuse of thousands of work hours by designers. Thoughts?