Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
The "ART" of Plagiarism
So much of what this and other industry publications are about is the encouragement to steal. That's right, I said steal! Steal our ideas, steal our plans, steal our thoughts about what the business of balloons has to offer. We're like P.T. Barnum who gave everything away in the name of publicity.
However, the thievery we can all accept is but a far cry from a very real and deliberate crime. The crime of plagiarism is an indiscretion of enormous proportions in our world today. Too often individuals or whole companies take credit for someone else's hard work and original thoughts. Any time you show pictures from a magazine or Web site that you do not own or have permissioon to use and call it your own, you are committing a crime. The crime perpetrated may seem petty. One may not even think they have done anything wrong, but they have.
Want some real life examples of plagiarism?
The names have been changed to protect the guilty!
Highway Robbery - Over the internet there are so many, many images to see from countless web sites. Unfortunately, cruising the web will have you sailing into stormy images taken from magazines (like this one), manufacturers brochures, even images from other web sites. I spied ABC Balloons from a northeastern state showing a number of original pieces blended very nicely with pictures from BALLOONS & Parties Magazine and other publications, as well. No credit was given for these images which gives ABC Balloons all the credit they DO NOT deserve. Shame on you ABC Balloons! Saving the worst for last...
Several years ago my retail company was exhibiting at a party showcase. One of my customer's, whose party we would soon be decorating, approached me at our booth looking very upset. She asked me if our company created all of it's own decor. Of course, I replied, and I reminded her of her visit to our warehouse where she had seen centerpieces being made. I asked her why she seemed so concerned. She told me I had better go visit the booth for XYZ Balloons, as they had a number of pictures in their portfolio that looked exactly like mine.
I ran (I did not walk) across the showroom floor to the booth for XYZ Balloons. Carefully browsing through their portfolio, I found dozens of purchased photographs and magazine clippings being touted as their own work. Practically their entire portfolio consisted of published photographs of my work, manufacturers studio photographed pieces, images from advertisements and do you know what else? They were showing your work, too! All the while XYZ Balloons was taking full credit for having designed and created this decor - both yours and mine!! I must tell you, this situation made me angry and upset, but I calmly talked to the husband and wife team at XYZ Balloons. I explained to them who I was, how I felt and what I needed them to do. I asked for our materials to be removed from their portfolio and I asked for a few of yours too.
I can assure you, this type of problem occurs every day. My solution probably was only a temporary stop-gap against XYZ Balloons. Though I hope not, they may still be pilfering all of our ideas and claiming them for their own. If I may speak for us all...give credit where credit is due. Steal my ideas, but let your customers' know the designs are mine. Cut pictures out from this and other publications and store them in a book of ideas. My Idea Book is clearly labeled for all to see.
For many years I have not cut and pasted single pictures with no names or captions to view. I have chosen to rip out entire pages of many publications and store them in my Idea Book. This gives my customers an opportunity to clearly see and understand that I can re-create this work, but the design is of someone else's creation.
Help raise the Art of Plagiarism above a crime of self-centered convenience.
Perhaps the etiquette of creativity is to (from time to time) embrace someone else's ideas and improve on them or re-construct those ideas with one's own artistic flair and plans for success. This process of creating and re-creating bypasses the plagiarism issue in an appropriate and professional manner. Try it - your business and your clients will appreciate your efforts.
However, the thievery we can all accept is but a far cry from a very real and deliberate crime. The crime of plagiarism is an indiscretion of enormous proportions in our world today. Too often individuals or whole companies take credit for someone else's hard work and original thoughts. Any time you show pictures from a magazine or Web site that you do not own or have permissioon to use and call it your own, you are committing a crime. The crime perpetrated may seem petty. One may not even think they have done anything wrong, but they have.
Want some real life examples of plagiarism?
The names have been changed to protect the guilty!
Highway Robbery - Over the internet there are so many, many images to see from countless web sites. Unfortunately, cruising the web will have you sailing into stormy images taken from magazines (like this one), manufacturers brochures, even images from other web sites. I spied ABC Balloons from a northeastern state showing a number of original pieces blended very nicely with pictures from BALLOONS & Parties Magazine and other publications, as well. No credit was given for these images which gives ABC Balloons all the credit they DO NOT deserve. Shame on you ABC Balloons! Saving the worst for last...
Several years ago my retail company was exhibiting at a party showcase. One of my customer's, whose party we would soon be decorating, approached me at our booth looking very upset. She asked me if our company created all of it's own decor. Of course, I replied, and I reminded her of her visit to our warehouse where she had seen centerpieces being made. I asked her why she seemed so concerned. She told me I had better go visit the booth for XYZ Balloons, as they had a number of pictures in their portfolio that looked exactly like mine.
I ran (I did not walk) across the showroom floor to the booth for XYZ Balloons. Carefully browsing through their portfolio, I found dozens of purchased photographs and magazine clippings being touted as their own work. Practically their entire portfolio consisted of published photographs of my work, manufacturers studio photographed pieces, images from advertisements and do you know what else? They were showing your work, too! All the while XYZ Balloons was taking full credit for having designed and created this decor - both yours and mine!! I must tell you, this situation made me angry and upset, but I calmly talked to the husband and wife team at XYZ Balloons. I explained to them who I was, how I felt and what I needed them to do. I asked for our materials to be removed from their portfolio and I asked for a few of yours too.
I can assure you, this type of problem occurs every day. My solution probably was only a temporary stop-gap against XYZ Balloons. Though I hope not, they may still be pilfering all of our ideas and claiming them for their own. If I may speak for us all...give credit where credit is due. Steal my ideas, but let your customers' know the designs are mine. Cut pictures out from this and other publications and store them in a book of ideas. My Idea Book is clearly labeled for all to see.
For many years I have not cut and pasted single pictures with no names or captions to view. I have chosen to rip out entire pages of many publications and store them in my Idea Book. This gives my customers an opportunity to clearly see and understand that I can re-create this work, but the design is of someone else's creation.
Help raise the Art of Plagiarism above a crime of self-centered convenience.
Perhaps the etiquette of creativity is to (from time to time) embrace someone else's ideas and improve on them or re-construct those ideas with one's own artistic flair and plans for success. This process of creating and re-creating bypasses the plagiarism issue in an appropriate and professional manner. Try it - your business and your clients will appreciate your efforts.
What's In A Name
N.B. This article was written by me 13 years ago!! I firmly believe NOTHING has changed within our industry since.For me, it all started with a "tree." The phone rang and on the other end of the line was a party planner asking if we make "balloon trees." Now my first instinct was to reply, "palm or maple," but not wanting to sound like a wise-guy, I opted for, "how many balloons would you like in your tree?" Whatever their answer was, it was blurred by my imagination running wild with the thought of balloons stuck in some tall woody plant with people climbing branches to release them from their tangled imprisonment. What else would happen to balloons in a tree?
As the years have past, new names have come across my desk and over my phone lines. There are puff balls - or are they clouds or perhaps clusters? There are cascades - but they could be corkscrews. Everyone makes packed arches - but are they triples, quads, quints, or just spirals? A double arch could be a zipper or butterfly arch. A balloon column sounds nice, but isn’t that a tree to some? Do we use a cylinder or a tank, a nozzle or a regulator? Hmmm...
Are 16" balloons ‘jumbo’ sized? Doesn’t that leave out 30" or 36" balloons, or larger? And whatever happened to the "paddle" balloon?
Other industries have come to standardize many of the items they sell. Is it time for our industry to follow? Do we need to differentiate our products like sub-compacts and sedans, or queen and king size beds?
Maybe that "tree" is the process of standardization taking place already. With regards only to the "tree," I kind of hope not!
However, much in the industry is standardized to a degree. There are 5", 9", 11" balloons and so on. 18" Mylar balloons are a standard size, or are they? How about those 20" or 21" stars. You probably pay more for them and just as sure you probably don’t charge more for them. Of course, there are those 10" and 12" latex balloons to add to the mix.
What about tank sizes? Surely to a compressed gas company there is some important difference between a 106, 107 or 110 size cylinder. A 285 versus a 292 cylinder must also carry some mystical reasoning as to why they are both offered. But in the end does such a small bit of compressed gas (helium or nitrogen) come to mean that much?
Now we come to packaging balloon products. A gross pack seemed to be (in the US) a fairly comfortable standard to rely on for many years. Then came 72 packs, 36 packs and even 12 packs which all made some sense as they were divisions of the original gross pack of 144. Hold on - here come what may be the more sensible 100 count and 50 count bags. Do we now need to rely on both types of counting for years to come? Possibly and probably.
How about Mylar (or is it metallized or foil?) balloons with their single packs, 5 count, 10 count, etc.?
A number of the items I have listed above are standardized to a degree. However, much of the standardizing may be from within the one company that is manufacturing or distributing the particular product. I don’t want to sound like a rant on paper here, but is it time for some real hard thinking about standardizing certain aspects of the balloon business to aid all concerned - the customer, manufacturer, distributor and reseller?
So next time a customer asks if you make "balloon trees," don’t hesitate to reply "palm or maple," and watch what happens.
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