The fabulous Kelby Carr, creator of TypeAMom (now TypeAParent) and TypeACon, has been going to bat for each of us in the last week. Whether you have a personal blog, post pictures on FB or anywhere else on the internet, this is a post you need to read. I'm sharing Kelby's post in it's entirety, with her full permission to do so. You can find the original post on the NickMom controversy on her site.
I don’t even know where to start, so I think the beginning is best.
In February 2006, I was put on bed rest while I was pregnant with my
twins. I couldn’t work my day job anymore (it was just
writing/reporting/database building as a special projects reporter at a
newspaper, so that was weird). I had this vision of a site for moms. Not
one of the cute sites with pastel colors where people with PhDs and no
children would teach us how to change a diaper. No, a real site for real
moms. A site for moms who have brains, who have an identity beyond the
butt wiping. A site for moms who have this crazy notion that we can have
it all, that we should have it all. That we would determine our fate, what hours we worked, whether we could attend our child’s school recital in the middle of the day.
I agonized over the name. I Googled. I Thesaurus’d. I scribbled into a notebook. And then it struck me.
Type-A Mom.
The over-achiever. The driven, brilliant, earth-mover. The early
adopter. The change maker. The geek. The mom who would never accept
being forced to choose: mom or person.
This was in the sidebar of the site in one of its earliest incarnations (both the text and the image):
Hi
Mom! You work hard, you play hard. You juggle life and love and kids,
and you do it all with style. You wipe butts and kick butt. You’re a
Type-A Mom! Type-A Mom is a site designed to be created and maintained
by the real know-it-alls in parenting, the moms.
Join first to connect with our community of moms. Don’t just read
articles, but write them (and earn money for doing it!). This site has
no investors. This isn’t a “mom” site run by men in suits. This site is
run by a mom , and all the moms here get a cut in its success. It’s time
to get real, moms!
In my mind since yesterday, I have been going over and over what to
say. How to characterize the years, YEARS, of butt-busting, toiling,
working to grow with nothing but sweat because who has a marketing
budget? To become now a site where hundreds, maybe thousands, of people
have contributed. People have blogged here and gone on to be major
A-list social media influencers. Type-A is now a conference going on its
fifth year. It is now more inclusive for both moms and dads, with
Type-A Parent.
And then this happened.
Nickelodeon’s NickMoms trampled all over my brand name. They blatantly
ripped off How to Be a Dad. Then they refused to acknowledge it. Then
they removed the How to Be a Dad rip-off, but refused to remove the
image they posted on sites like Pinterest. They refused to remove the
post referencing Type-A Mom, or even answer me in any way. Then they
kind of sort of didn’t apologize but said something on the record that
was approved by a team of Viacom lawyers, but to How to Be a Dad and not me.
Then they admitted that it wasn’t an honest mistake. Oh, no. They have known about me and the Type-A Mom brand for years.
I have written, spoken and talked about social media and how best to
handle things like this. They want to target PARENTS. They clearly want
to target bloggers and online/digital parents.
Why not simply remove it, apologize, even reply in social networks,
and be done with it? So many brands have turned episodes like this into a
positive. They are not.
I have tweeted them. I have tagged their Facebook page. Yesterday,
they gave Amy Lupold Bair an email address (because it is so distasteful
having people question their ethics publicly), so I emailed them. I
haven’t heard back.
But I am Type-A Mom. When I started, no one was using this phrase. I searched it. I kept Google Alerts. It was only in the last 2-3 years that it has become used commonly.
I spent years explaining to people that it isn’t “type-uh-mom.”
Probably one of the most frequent questions I get during interviews is
how I came up with the name and what it means.
I think the worst thing in all of this is that some bloggers are saying my brand name isn’t distinctive. Wow. I can’t imagine ever telling someone their brand name isn’t distinctive.
Type-A Mom and Type-A Parent are original. Sure, type-A personality
was around. It is the PAIRING of the two that is distinctive. Many, many
distinctive businesses and brands incorporate common terms. For
example:
5 minutes is surely common, but there is no doubt who you mean in this space when you say 5 Minutes for Mom.
Resourceful is a pretty well-known word, but Resourceful Mommy will always be Amy’s business.
Blissful and domestic are both extremely common words, but who in social media would question what you mean when you say Blissfully Domestic?
Apple. Enough said?
Amazon. How many of you were even thinking river?
I constantly tell people to protect their business, and now I am
going to do the same. There is even a blogger using Type-A Mom in her
name. It would be wonderful if I didn’t have to ask people to do the
right thing, if they would just respect that I created, built and grew
Type-A Mom and Type-A Parent into what it is today and come up with
their own unique brand or content.
Beyond all of this, in business I think it is best to be original.
I always strive to do this. Some of the best business people I know
do this. Some of the business people who made history did this.
Innovate, originate. Don’t copy.
Yes, I understand at this point in our society many things have been
done. But just look at some of the innovations we still see. In a
choice, do something new (or certainly something old done in such a
fresh, new way as to reinvent it) versus regurgitating someone else’s
concepts.
Be you.
Be uniquely, deliciously, splendidly, wonderfully you.
Update on September 15
Three days after Amy’s post and after several of us tweeted to the
NickMom account about these concerns, I received this email this
morning:
Dear Kelby,
I’m Bronwen O’Keefe, the Senior Vice President of Nickmom. I am
responsible for the website and forthcoming TV block. I wanted to
personally let you know that I am very sorry for what happened. It was
never our intention to offend you or appear disrespectful of your work.
I also regret that we didn’t reach out to you sooner.
I hope that you will accept my apology, and as further evidence that I mean what I say, we have taken down the graphic.
Sincerely,
Bronwen O’Keefe
I am pleased they finally removed the post. I am thrilled they
apologized (as I wasn’t sure that would happen). This is a great
response, respectful and worded nicely. This should have come three days
ago. I am not pleased that it took this long, that they were initially
dismissive and then ignored the matter, and that they reached out to
several other people before contacting the How to Be a Dad bloggers and
I.
Since this blew up, however, other bloggers have discovered their own
images (many times images they posted of their own children!) have been
stolen and used without their being contacted for permission. In one
instance, the blogger’s watermark on a picture of her with her children
on the first day of school was covered by NickMom with big block
letters. I would highly recommend that you conduct a search in Google
with the following: site:nickmom.com yourblogname. You can do a few variations (like blogname.com, blogname). They have via and site name in many instances. See Amy’s post for instructions on how to request its removal.
Further Update if You Find Your Image on NickMom Site
In a reply email when I inquired about this issue, Bronwen O’Keefe
said to contact them to alert if you have an image used without your
permission at copyright@mtvn.com. She said that “all emails will be
acted upon.”
And it continues…. September 20 Update
I get that it takes time for a major corporation to correct errors
like this. In fact, the bulk of the NickMom site seems to be improperly
used images… images used without permission, and many times which credit
a social bookmarking site where the original image was shared instead
of the original creator.
Let me make this very clear: a social sharing or indexing
site, such as Reddit or Google Images or Tumblr, is NOT an image’s
source.
So last night, when it was brought to my attention that NEW content
is being created that continues to improperly use images, I contacted
them again. Amy Lupold Bair did as well with her own questions. I mean,
as I said, I understand it could take time to vet prior posts. It should
NOT be an issue to prevent new ones from being posted.
Here is what I sent:
I wanted to check on any progress to address the issue of
stolen images/photos used without permission on the NickMom site. I am
extremely concerned to see that past posts with images used without
permission not only remain, but that new posts have since been added since
this all came to light that are clearly not properly sourced (Reddit is
never a source, any more than Google image search would be, for
example, but regardless Reddit via links don’t even take one directly to
a share there)… but I have to presume if the new posts are not properly
sourced, they are again being used without proper permission.
Are there any plans to remove all stolen content? Or is Nickelodeon
taking the approach of only removing stolen images when notified? I have
many bloggers asking if there has been an update, so I would really
like to explain precisely what action is being taken currently (and if
there is an ETA on any changes being seen on the site).
Here was my reply:
Interestingly enough, Amy at Resourceful Mommy checked
with a similar request for an update, so I will share with you what I
shared with her.
We have actually been working hard on a full process review, and
while that takes time to fully complete, I can tell you we are taking
positive steps forward.
We have the copyright@mtvn.com email,
which is our company’s mailbox for individual copyright owners with
copyright concerns. I would encourage you to feel free to make that
address available to anyone coming to you so we can talk to them
directly about any issues they may have.
I have had some conversations already, and they have been very
productive and positive for everyone. We are also making improvements to
the training program for stable of bloggers and contributors, which
will strengthen the baseline understanding of our expectations.
I want you to know that we unequivocally take our work and reputation
seriously, and I am confident we are headed in the right direction. The
conversations we have been having, internally , and with partners, and
with a growing number of bloggers in the community, are facilitating
that.
In addition, we look forward to any recommendations you may have for funny bloggers who may want to contribute.
Let me be also be clear about something else. They did what I asked. I
technically have no beef with them personally. BUT I remain very
concerned about a major corporation stealing creations of bloggers,
including images parent bloggers have posted of their own children. What
a violation! The fact that the higher-ups have been alerted (and it has
been a week-plus) and nothing has happened with the old content is bad
enough. The fact that there is still new content being created is
disturbing and alarming.
At this point, I am not sure what more we can do. Tell
Nickmom on Twitter (@nickmom) how you feel about this. Check for any of
your own stolen images and report them. But I would expect a corporation
to use due diligence and be sure they are not improperly using images
without permission and with improper credit on their website. If you
know anyone in the media or online news, entertainment or social media
sites, let them know about this story.
And? Look at what this blogger did to stand up for bloggers and their content.
Photo of apples, © Pixelbliss – Fotolia.com
Photo of woman, © Audrey Johnson via SXC
