The Scales of Justice

This is a rant about a theft. Not in the literal sense, but just as heinous. A few days ago, a fellow blogger that I regularly read, posted an article on something that has begun to become quite rampant across the blogging community: intellectual property theft. The absolutely delightful Pam, creator of ‘Polish Police‘ had recently posted the most amazing review on CHANEL’s upcoming Fall 2011 nail lacquers (here), which had the rest of us in a veritable drooling-frenzy over their lusciousness! We all vicariously lived through her swatches and had begun counting the days until these beauties would be unleashed upon the rest of the world. Here’s where it becomes ugly.

It appears that some people (ahem *allglam*) decided to take a detour along the road of proper blogging etiquette, and they not only ‘appropriated’ all of Pam’s photos, but altered the background on them AND added their own watermark so as to proclaim their ownership over them, without giving any credit whatsoever of where these pictures originated from. The gall. The nerve. The absolutely incredible stupidity.

What many people don’t see, is the background, and by that I mean what bloggers do to get that article out there. The incredible amounts of hours spent testing a product, taking pictures, and lots of them, ensuring you get the best shot, writing a creative and honest review, answering comments from readers and fulfilling as many requests as you can, all the while maintaining a ‘normal’ life outside of blogging. Some of us have other jobs – in the real world, while others of us are moms with other responsibilities. I like to think that bloggers fall into one of 2 categories: those who do it for love, and those who do it for gain. Pam, like myself, do it for the love of beauty products as well as a real passion for writing. Others, do it for what they can squeeze out of it, be it free products or advertising dollars.

The bloggers who care, not only pore over their articles ensuring they put out a cohesively written and beautifully photographed product, but understand that they have an obligation to their readers to be as honest as they can. Cosmetics companies and PR firms alike, have come to recognize the influence that bloggers have today among consumers and do their best to collaborate and support these honest and hardworking bloggers as best as they can. It takes effort and patience and deep trust to cultivate a wonderfully working relationship like this, and sadly, all it takes is one nasty, sneaking blogger to ruin it all for the rest of us. Not only do intellectual property thieves cast doubt on the rest of the blogging community, but affect how readers will then view our content. Of course, we can all watermark our pictures, but I feel that doing so not only detracts from the visual effect and effort of taking that perfect shot, but as we learned, doesn’t really deter these thieves.

So what can we do? Well, it appears that trying to nail these cowards to the wall, is a rather slippery slope. Personally, I believe the best thing one can do to show support and solidarity for all the honest & hardworking bloggers out there, is to first of all refuse to visit these questionable sites (double ahem *allglam*), thereby hitting them where it counts: advertising money from reader views, as well as spread the word out there about this kind of sickening practice…and who’s behind it.

So, Pam….you are not alone, and I feel for you, having had many of my pictures stolen and used without my permission as well, and I really hope you don’t let this set you back, but continue to entertain the rest of us (as well as have us all green with envy with your fabulous posts!) and provide us with the amazing reviews and articles you have always done.

Please feel free to visit Polish Police to read Pam’s full article on this experience.