Lengthy rant warning: Thats mine and Im not sure Im okay with your Brand repurposing it. Sooo... a picture I posted earlier (via instagram, pushed to twitter, tumblr, fb -- the one of Remi) got a (twitter) reply from a brand, where they took said picture, did a little text overlay with a phrase, with a footer mentioning their brand. Tweeted to me. A brand that I do not follow. My first reaction is that I dont like this. I know that by posting things a bunch of places, Im making it easy for my content/images to be used by others, even if not expressly giving my permission for this, and neither directly prohibiting this (each site has its own set of user agreements regarding content and such, which most of us scroll through and proceed with our lives even if weve practically sold our photos souls by clicking the checkbox). I am not going to watermark images that to me I consider more of a snapshot than a photograph (aka casual vs. very purposefully created), and as this reply was directed to me (tweet reply began with @___ , no spaces or characters preceding), it seems like said brand is... attempting to gift me a cute thing? I feel like thats the suggested sentiment from the reply. But it feels dirty. I dont like seeing my content repurposed by (specifically) a brand, without permission, even if directed to me. Had this been something on their site where they invited me to upload an image, and then theyd send me a postcard or something with said image to share or whatever (think: Elf Yourself), then including their brand messaging, okay sure. At that point Id have opted in in the first place, and may have found this sort of thing fun. Alternative: reply to my tweet, and invite me to create something with my cute photo myself at your site. I just really dont like the feeling its giving me, and as someone whose profession is strongly tied to brand presence and image, I feel this tactic aimed at persons such as myself is a big misstep. Im not sure if others with similar or different backgrounds have the same reaction. Im currently looking through their account, and it seems like they do a handful of these image-steals-then-add-text-overlay each day, so its not TONS, but Ive yet to see any adverse reactions (or much reaction at all) to these. One reply eluded to that it was cool to be noticed by said brand. Theres really not a lot of ground being gained by this campaign/brand from what I can tell at this point, and my image isnt being used to target a broader audience and engage them in a way to have much brand equity riding on my one photo. This sort of attention is not the sort that would encourage me to follow the brand, and neither makes me any more confident in their products (which Im not a consumer/user of presently). Were I a fan of the brand already (and had been following them, tagging them, interacting with them), this sort of attention may have been more appreciated or welcome. Im recalling a particular incident involving Maddie the Coonhound, and a photo of her that was picked up and repurposed by a brand on social media. Maddie had enough of a following that this was brought to the attention of the photographer (Theron Humphrey) pretty quickly, and brought to the attention of those following Maddie/Theron. This particular brand reacted quite well with not only an apology and content removal, but going along with the proposal of making a charitable donation to shelter animals. Well played. Im not looking to start a revolution about a crappy low-res pic I took on instagram that got sent back to me with a little branding messaging stamped onto it, nor am I looking for any sort of pay out or whatnot. I dont even know what Im looking for. Maybe just some sort of validation on my feelings that this doesnt feel right. Maybe some acknowledgement that just because something can be done doesnt mean that it should be. I have not replied to this tweet yet. I dont know if I will. Im not sure what Id say. Im not outraged, I guess Im more with the feeling of that I need to pull them aside and tell them theyre doing something they shouldnt, and they either need to stop, or change how theyre doing it. Obviously there are marketing / brand motives behind this sort of thing, but the approach is also almost innocent feeling in a way. If any press is good press, I guess theyve achieved their goal? At this point, my feelings toward a brand disregarding content ownership make me question what sort of other business practices and policies they take part in that would not sit well with me. Or worse, what other sort of regulations and rights they take lightly. Not building trust with me at all right now.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 16:03:18 +0000
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