Highball Halloween bases ad campaign on stolen image « Columbus Underground Messageboard

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Highball Halloween bases ad campaign on stolen image

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Started 7 months ago by bob.os
Latest reply from awolfnamedtoby

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bob.os
Columbus *not* Cbus
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It would seem that someone at Highball Halloween or one of their advertising partners decided that it was perfectly fine to take work from local photographer Jessie Barber's Flickr stream, clip out her watermark and use the image as a key part of their 2011 advertising campaign.

Barber figured this out on Friday when she saw a windows display with her image. You can read her story, and Highball's incredibly bad reaction here. I'm dismayed by their statement to Barber that paying artists "isn't in the spirit of Highball."

So far, no one from Highball or the ad firm Sevell + Sevell has responded publicly or offered to pay Barber for her work.

Posted 7 months ago #
Rockmastermike
CORNspiracy HQ
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well thats pretty a shitty thing to do.

Posted 7 months ago #
cc

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It took some balls to edit out her watermark. I hope they clear this up.

Posted 7 months ago #
MattEllis
North Campus
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This kinda thing happens more than you'd think. These advertising places just hope that no one will notice these things.

Now they've been caught, It's time to pay up. This is theft.

Posted 7 months ago #
Trixie

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Uhh, yeah, super shitty.

Posted 7 months ago #
SusanB
Hungarian Village, Columbus' fastest growing Gayborhood!
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So super shitty I'd look into legal action if I were her. I betcha they'd take the image down right quick if you had an attorney contact them.

Posted 7 months ago #
SusanB
Hungarian Village, Columbus' fastest growing Gayborhood!
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She can also contact all of the event sponsors (columbusunderground.com is one) and let them know what happened.

Posted 7 months ago #
DR
Short North
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i would make an invoice and mail it to Deisha @ the SNBA. Last year they had models and did their own photo shoot for the ads. Why did they not to the same thing this year? This really bothers me knowing the fees they charge monthly... they have no reason to cut corners so carelessly.

Posted 7 months ago #
Anne
King Lincoln
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Highball Twitter account tweeted this two hours ago so they are working with her to make it right.
"
"HighBallCbus HighBallCbus
I know u r anxious 4 response, but we needed to contact Jess to resolve. We are sorry for the mistake. We're making it right #highballcbus"

Posted 7 months ago #
DR
Short North
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Anne said:
Highball Twitter account tweeted this two hours ago so they are working with her to make it right.
"
"HighBallCbus HighBallCbus
I know u r anxious 4 response, but we needed to contact Jess to resolve. We are sorry for the mistake. We're making it right #highballcbus"

Thats a good thing! Glad to see that they are taking ownership over the whole issue.

Posted 7 months ago #
cbus11

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The disadvantage of stealing locally is you are more apt to get caught.

Very disappointed in their initial response to the artist and the fact it takes public internet postings to get a satisfactory response.

Posted 7 months ago #
Anne
King Lincoln
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Jess posted an update to her blog today to share that she was contacted by John Angelo and the situation has been worked out and Highball now has authorized use of her image. The post includes a letter from John that you can read here.

Posted 7 months ago #
bob.os
Columbus *not* Cbus
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cbus11 said:
The disadvantage of stealing locally is you are more apt to get caught.

Very disappointed in their initial response to the artist and the fact it takes public internet postings to get a satisfactory response.

This is the takeaway here. Stuff costs money, even if that stuff is just organized electrons.

Highball stepped up in a major way and owned the theft and made good on it. Good on them.

Still no word from Sevell + Sevell their part in this theft.

Posted 7 months ago #
misskitty
Columbus
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That is super effin lame! They should absolutely be ashamed of themselves. Also they handled themselves poorly on trying to resolve the issue. It's a good thing she is a nice girl otherwise they could end up in court and be sued by more then one party.

Posted 7 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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misskitty said:
Also they handled themselves poorly on trying to resolve the issue.

Did you not see Anne's post about the issue being resolved?

Posted 7 months ago #
leftovers

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This is a quote from Jess:

This was a victory for everyone involved — and I started a small fire that you all helped fan. In less than 24 hours we had the attention and the ability to change something that will continue to help artists here in Columbus.

It is really cool that she made a stand. Theft like this is all too common. Unfortunately, most abusers don't get caught.

Posted 7 months ago #
misskitty
Columbus
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Walker said:
Did you not see Anne's post about the issue being resolved?

Uh.. Yea I did. I don't just rail through a thread without reading it.
Over all I was making comments about how she was treated. It's really lame they pulled that BS and if she had backed down after the first ass she talked to they would still be using that picture.

"Oh right, I remember. Your photo had a little signature in the bottom corner, right? Oh, we must have accidentally cropped it out!"

That's not an accident. That's just a dick head thing to do. That's all

Posted 7 months ago #
cc

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The first response to her was super shady and belittling to artists. There is no question about that. This really is a story of a strong willed artist who stood up for herself.

Posted 7 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Oh, sure. It definitely wasn't handled properly at first. But sounds like it's resolved now, which I'm happy for.

Having served as a volunteer on the Highball planning committee for the past three years (but not this year), I just want to say that this event is put together by a very large group of people, all of which care deeply about creating a vibrant event for this city to enjoy. Carmen Owens from Surly Girl, Charly Bauer from Jeni's, Juli Rogers at R Design and dozens of others are all amazing people who are heavily involved in making this event something for everyone to enjoy and be proud of.

I'm just hopeful that this one bad experience doesn't leave anyone with the impression that all of Highball=Evil, because that's hardly the case.

Looking forward to another great event this year. ;)

Posted 7 months ago #
Snarf
Dystopia
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Its odd the immediate blame was placed on the Highball folks instead of the ad agency who are really the ones responsible for the theft, yes?

Posted 7 months ago #