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| Image courtesy of The Daily Nail blog |
I'm still battling an upper respiratory infection (hello round 2 of antibiotics) but with fall and winter polishes piling up around me, I am making a conscious effort to get posts out to you to read (and not just press releases, although many of you have told me that you do appreciate the news!).
I got a text this morning from Manifest Destany asking if I had heard about the latest stolen pictures being using for an international nail polish company's fall promotional line. I hadn't but it only took a quick look on Twitter to see what was going on.
First off.
DON'T STEAL PHOTOS.
It's one thing to download a photo to your computer so you can look at it later because it was inspiring or pretty or funny.
It's another to download a picture, use it as if you created it, SELL IT and think it's okay.
When I started college, I wasn't sure what I wanted to major in and one of my options was graphic design which I stayed in for a year. I learned lots of valuable information that I still use today and while I didn't stay in that education path, I saw how much work someone puts into creating their masterpieces. As a blogger, I take a lot of time in photographing and editing images for you to see and sometimes my photos are used in publications for companies or for the company's own use.
I will not comment on the company in question or similar companies that have been accused of stealing artwork off bloggers, art sharing or social media websites because I am confident that the companies in question will do the right thing and work towards an agreement with those who should have been rightly compensated for their work. More so, I hope that someone lost their job over this and those in charge of that person were also reprimanded. If this was an outside graphic design firm that was hired to create this artwork (which is very common), I hope they are also reported to the Better Business Bureau.
Sharing is caring. Stealing is not.
Update!
For starters, I ended up in ER last night. That was not fun. Doctor says I have Pleurisy.
The good news is that the company in question immediately was in contact with the true creator of the artwork, issued a public apology and a partnership between creator and company may be in the works! Very happy to see a company work swiftly. They hired an outside artist (as I suspected) who passed off this work as his own.
