I’m a bit annoyed with the Better Homes and Gardens tv show at the moment, to the point that I insist we turn it off now. They have a segment on the show with Tara Dennis, a well-known interior designer/crafter, and it seems that lately poor Tara has run out of ideas. She’s using other people’s ideas, without giving the proper credit for them!
Take the jetpack that I shared last week - it appeared on the show last Friday evening, and in the current issue of the magazine (pictured above.)
I first pinned that jetpack to my pinterest boards 44 weeks ago. The original source wrote the post in September of 2011! That’s a long time for an image and idea to be hanging around for others to copy.
Oh, they could say “it’s an original idea”, because their copy is stuck to a back plate and has hosepipe handles, but we all know that’s just expanding on an awesome idea, the original idea is still used.
So, do you call them on it? I mean, we all heard rumours of BHG being busted before Christmas for stealing a well-known blogger’s idea for their show, but is this the same level of deception? Should they have provided credit for the original idea with an “inspired by” tag in the magazine, and not aired it on the show?
What do you think? Should BHG magazine have credited the originator of the idea?
Cate is a closer-to-forty-than-thirty SAHM of 4+2 kids, ranging in age from 15 to 3. She doesn't do housework, wastes too much time on facebook and pinterest, and is overwhelmed by the awesome blogs in her google reader. She loves taking online scrapping classes, learning about the scout movement (as a Joey/Cub leader), and has a purple front door. 2013 is all about CHOOSING the right path.
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Ummm Yes!! If everyone else has to do then I don’t see why they can’t.
salz recently posted..Blog Hiatus Done and junk on beds
A big yes.If people are inspired by someone elses creativity they should acknowledge this and thank them for sharing their ideas.
Not only should they be given proper credit… but BHG (or anyone!) should DEFINATELY ask for permission first, or at least let the person know before they use it on public tv or magazine and claim it as their own original idea. I can only imagine how that must make someone feel, seeing their hard work and creativity used elsewhere like that! So so rude. At the very very very least, as you mentioned, it should say “inspired by….”! We can get in very real trouble by using someone else’s tutorial or pattern on our own blogs without permission etc what gives a company the right to?
I don’t think it’s necessary for them to give credit for something like this. WHO would be the original creator? I’m sure an idea like this has at dozens of people who thought of this on their own.
I think the internet has turned us into crazy credit-monsters. Creativity is more organic, and highly reliant on inspiration. To go crediting something like this is crazy!
It reminds me of an idea I came up with all by myself a few months ago. A clear iPhone case filled with scrapbooking paper and photos so that it’s interchangeable. I published it on my blog, and it got pinned a little bit. A few weeks later a big craft blog I know published a really similar tutorial. Actually, it was exactly the same idea. A friend showed it to me, and I really didn’t care. Because you know what? The comments of this post were FULL of links and people saying “Oh hey, THIS person did this before you”. And I looked, and some of them were posted YEARS ago.
So even though I came up with this idea all by myself, it was still not an original idea. And people could have just as easily posted those links on my blog and said “Oh hey, you copied!”, even though that’s not true.
So maybe BHG DID copy this idea, or maybe they didn’t! We don’t know for sure that they did, and even if they did, big whoop! I don’t think it’s always necessary to credit sources of ideas or inspiration.
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Yes, this is a very interesting topic and I agree with Talia. Whenever I am inspired by someone e;se’s creativity and take it a step further, i do give credit. But there have been instances, like Talia said, that I come up with an interesting fashion design idea all on my own and then I open a magazine and there it is! So yes, the right, ethical thing to do is to give credit if you were inspired but it is hard to tell if people are truly stealing or if they came up with the same idea simultaneoulsy. Good topic though, thannks for bringing it up.
Nell recently posted..Tutorial Tuesday: Turning Fashion on its Head; Upside Down Jacket Tutorial
Absolutely yes.
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