Editing Rejected (section)

===Inspiration===
[[File:Rejected (2000) consumer whore frame.png|thumb|right|''Rejected''<nowiki/>'s advertisements poke fun at [[consumerism]].]]
Although the film is fictional and Hertzfeldt has never done any advertising work,<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/may/02/don-hertzfeldt-animator-beautiful-day Don Hertzfeldt: the best animator you've never heard of|Film|The Guardian]</ref> he did receive many offers to do television commercials after ''[[Billy's Balloon]]'' received international attention and acclaim. In appearances, he would often tell the humorous story of how he was tempted to produce the worst possible cartoons he could come up with for the companies, run off with their money, and see if they would actually make it to air. Eventually, this became the germ for ''Rejected'''s theme of a collection of cartoons so bad they were rejected by advertising agencies, leading to their creator's breakdown.

Hertzfeldt has never accepted "real" advertising work and has stated numerous times on his website and in public appearances that he never will, as he feels advertisements are "lies" and he does not want to lie to his audience.<ref name="Bitter Films' FAQ">{{cite web | url=http://www.bitterfilms.com/faq.html | title=Bitter Films' FAQ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100104192317/http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/films_of_the_decade/index.html?story=%2Fent%2Fmovies%2Ffilm_salon%2F2009%2F12%2F31%2Frejected | archive-date=4 January 2010 | url-status=dead | df=dmy-all }}</ref>