Have you heard about the fight that's brewing between Jessica Alba's Honest Company and the popular mom blogger Honest Toddler?
Let me break it down for you. Honest Toddler is a hilarious woman who tweets and blogs from the wickedly funny point of view of a toddler. Honest Company is a corporation that sells baby crap. (Not actual baby crap, but you know what I mean.)
Here's the she said/she said posts they've both written so you can follow along.
Long story short, a few months ago Honest Company started poking Honest Toddler and demanding that she give up her attempt to trademark her name. Ummm, excuse me? Why does Honest Company want Honest Toddler not to trademark her own name?? Because Honest Company thinks people are dolts and will confuse the two Honest names, so no one can have "Honest" except for them. Riiiiight. Have you ever eaten a bar of Dove soap thinking it was Dove chocolate? Of course you haven't, because you're not an idiot. Wait. Maybe that's what happened! Maybe Jessica ate soap accidentally and realized how easy it was to confuse the two Dove brands and thought to herself (as her mouth foamed with soapy bubbles) If I could confuse these brands, people might confuse Honest Company with Honest Toddler! I have to stop this from ever happening! She quickly rinsed out her mouth with Honest Water (if it doesn't exist yet, it will) and called her lawyer in an attempt to protect her "brand" and "intellectual property."
Honestly, I think that's bullshit. I don't believe a word Honest Company is saying.
You know what I think? I think a big corporation saw a chance to bully and scare a mom blogger with a popular site and steal her name and hopefully confuse HER fanbase to follow a diaper company instead of a sassy toddler.
I don't think Honest Company is really worried that I might confuse Jessica Alba's ah-may-zing sun savvy style with Honest Toddler's observations like "Anthropologie, you may have changed your name but I know a Salvation Army when I see one." And how stupid can they be? I love Honest Toddler and her witticisms, but I could give a fuck about aromatic soy candles. I'm pretty sure I can tell the difference.
Wait. I'm confused. Is a snarky toddler saying this or a large corporation??
The compromise that Honest Company has come up with is to create a license agreement for Honest Toddler to use her name for one year. That means Honest Toddler would PAY Honest Company a royalty for the favor of being allowed to continue to use the name that SHE has made for herself and then after a year she has to find a new name and basically start over. How is this fair?? Honestly, my eight-year-old could tell you this deal sucks.
This is not a compromise! Honest Toddler has done all of the work to gain her 250,000+ followers, her book deal with Simon and Schuster, and her TV production deal with Darren Star, and now Honest Company wants her to pay a royalty to go forward?! How greedy can Honest Company get?
I haven't heard any word that Honest Company is going after Honest Tea. I bet I can guess why they haven't. Honest Tea is owned by Coca-Cola. Hmmm ... that sounds like a fairer fight and Honest Company must not be interested in fair fights. Interesting isn't it?
Last week Honest Tea was a sponsor at BlogHer and I jokingly asked the rep, "Has Jessica Alba sued you yet?"
He responded with all seriousness, "I'd like to see her try. We're owned by Coca-Cola."
Exactly. Honest Company isn't interested in fighting one of the world's largest brands. They'd rather squabble with a mom blogger.
This isn't the first case I've heard of a larger entity attacking a mom blogger and swiping her brand. It's happening more than you know. These types of groups are targeting mid-range bloggers who have built up a nice social media following and some brand recognition. The bloggers have done the legwork for free with their dedication, sweat, good content, and hard work and then these companies hire an attorney and swoop in and take their social media. The bloggers don't realize how much they're really worth or they don't have the money to fight off the lawyers. Either way, they lose their brands and are forced to start over with the few loyal readers who find them again.
I'm not sure what's going to happen with Honest Toddler. This all came to light when she applied for the trademark and Honest Company moved then to stop her. In the scheme of things it doesn't cost much to trademark and protect your brand. I would recommend getting it done now before the vultures start sniffing around your brand.
One thing I think we can count on is Honest Toddler won't go without a fight. Honest Toddler has a quarter of a million fans on Twitter and she's not afraid to unleash them on Honest Company. She has a book that's making her money that she can use to defend herself and her brand and who knows what her Darren Star connection can do for her?
As a fellow blogger, I am standing beside Honest Toddler and defending her against Honest Company and I hope you will too. It doesn't matter if you have a small blog about your dog or a huge blog about fashion or a mid-sized humor blog, this is something we should all work together on. We could all be a victim of this sort of treatment and we need to start fighting back. We are all bloggers who pour ourselves into our sites every day. We work tirelessly to build our brand (big or small), to find readers, and to provide content. We don't do this so that a large corporation can come along and steal from us.
Let's hit Honest Company where they hurt: tweet them. (Corporations are terrified of Twitter.) Tell Honest Company and Jessica Alba to leave Honest Toddler alone and you can tell them I sent you! #thehonestcompanysucks
P.S. - I'm currently working on a trademark for People I HONESTLY Want to Punch in the Throat. I wonder if Honest Company wants that one? I'll license it to them!
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