A few weeks ago, I had a subscriber alert me to the fact that a wig company was using my picture and a portion of my video to advertise for a wig. Imagine my shock when I clicked over to their website and saw this....
When I clicked on the information page, it had a brief video.....yep, you guessed it, the video was taken from a portion of one of my hair tutorials!
The portion they chose to show was at the end of my video where I'm just using my fingers to finish styling my hair. They muted out my voice, added music and made it appear like I was demonstrating how this wig looked.
Needless to say, I was shocked! Once I recovered enough to put some coherent thoughts together, I clicked on their contact page and sent them a very nice email requesting that they take down my picture and video as they are false and misleading. The only response I received was one that said, "We are shocked to hear that our model is similar to your video. Please sent us your video or photos, so we can check if it the case."
Of course I wasn't about to send them the video file or my picture but I did give them the link to my YouTube video that was copied......haven't heard back. And, since the company is not in the U.S., there's very little recourse that I have.
Since then, I've received a couple other notices from my wonderful subscribers saying they are seeing an ad pop up for this "wig" on Facebook. So, I wanted to state plainly that I did NOT partner with this wig company to create a wig of my hairstyle. I really don't care that they created a wig of my hairstyle......as they say, copying is the highest form of a compliment, right? But, I hate that they are showing me styling my REAL hair and making you as the consumer THINK it's a wig.
Ironically, just 2 days after discovering this, another one of my favorite YouTubers did a video saying that a different company had falsely used a portion of one of her videos to try and promote their product. It was similar to one she had reviewed but a different brand. Several of her subscribers had purchased the product, assuming it had her endorsement because they saw her in their ad.
So, buyer beware! If you see any of your favorite YouTubers advertising a product but they are not actually speaking and do not show the brand of the product in their video, don't be deceived into buying that product!!
The portion they chose to show was at the end of my video where I'm just using my fingers to finish styling my hair. They muted out my voice, added music and made it appear like I was demonstrating how this wig looked.
Needless to say, I was shocked! Once I recovered enough to put some coherent thoughts together, I clicked on their contact page and sent them a very nice email requesting that they take down my picture and video as they are false and misleading. The only response I received was one that said, "We are shocked to hear that our model is similar to your video. Please sent us your video or photos, so we can check if it the case."
Of course I wasn't about to send them the video file or my picture but I did give them the link to my YouTube video that was copied......haven't heard back. And, since the company is not in the U.S., there's very little recourse that I have.
Since then, I've received a couple other notices from my wonderful subscribers saying they are seeing an ad pop up for this "wig" on Facebook. So, I wanted to state plainly that I did NOT partner with this wig company to create a wig of my hairstyle. I really don't care that they created a wig of my hairstyle......as they say, copying is the highest form of a compliment, right? But, I hate that they are showing me styling my REAL hair and making you as the consumer THINK it's a wig.
Ironically, just 2 days after discovering this, another one of my favorite YouTubers did a video saying that a different company had falsely used a portion of one of her videos to try and promote their product. It was similar to one she had reviewed but a different brand. Several of her subscribers had purchased the product, assuming it had her endorsement because they saw her in their ad.
So, buyer beware! If you see any of your favorite YouTubers advertising a product but they are not actually speaking and do not show the brand of the product in their video, don't be deceived into buying that product!!