As many of you are aware, a controversy arose last week when the blog Boing, Boing and others publicly mocked a Ralph Lauren advert featuring an already very skinny model photoshopped to make her skinnier skill (the advert in question is reproduced above). Ralph Lauren reacted (badly) by sending a flurry of notices claiming unauthorized reproduction of copyright-protected material and threatening legal action under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act). To most, this was a blatant attempt to snuff out legitimate criticism of their product advert. It is also a perfect example of a brand making a bad situation even worst for itself by opting for the wrong course of action.
To their credit, unlike some of the other blogs threatened with legal action in this matter, Boing, Boing did not back down. Instead, they invoked the "fair use" doctrine which is designed to protect free speech including commentary, criticism, news reporting, or educational use as it relates to copyright-protected materials. In this instance, the initial Boing, Boing blog post which prompted the threat of legal action (as well as the series of blog posts that followed) clearly comes within the "fair use" doctrine making it an obvious case of protected speech, a fact that could not possibly have escaped Ralph Lauren and their legal counsel.
From a brand image standpoint, the reaction from Ralph Lauren made them look like a big corporation using its muscle to shut down legitimate free speech. Worst still, the fact that the commentary relating to the controversial advert was so obviously a case of "fair use" makes their threats of legal action look like a misuse of copyright law to cover up a rather unfortunate advertising decision. In other words, they come off as the classic corporate bully. It also rattled the cages of other blogs who took up the matter and drew the attention of popular MSNBC television host Rachel Maddow who did a feature about it on her show.
What was essentially a controversy limited to the confines of the Internet became a subject of prime time television thanks in no small part to the brand's heavy-handed tactics and miscalculations. As a result, a brand that has long portrayed itself as embodying the all-American ethos now looks like an arrogant corporation ready to trample on that quintessentially American value, free speech. More importantly, it didn't have to turn out this way and probably would not have had the brand better understood the ways of the web.
To some extent, the reaction of Ralph Lauren is understandable. Luxury and fashion brands are accustomed to tightly controlling their images. Thanks to the long-standing dependance of print media on advertising dollars from luxury and fashion conglomerates, image management used to be a fairly straightforward matter. The problem is that the old presumptions no longer hold true in a digital media environment where social media is giving the average consumer or citizen journalist an independent voice. If brands are to make the most of the "new media world order", they will need to re-think their presumptions and more importantly, revise their PR tactics to avoid this type of debacle. There are countless lessons to be drawn from this incident by brands willing to learn.
Sincerely,
The Luxe Chronicles
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Bravo to Boing Boing for pointing out the obvious and in some ways, Ralph Lauren was also in some sense misleading the public from publishing such an obvious photoshopped image. There needs to be more blogs who criticize these luxury giants and to also let them know that fashion brands can't simply advertise the way they want and try to force their so-called "fantasy" editorials on us an expects us to accept that as the trend of the day.
Ralph Lauren is increasingly losing my respect in terms of being able to handle criticism for their work. You try to question anything related to their new product (such as their iPhone application) and they'll just dance around the question or shut you out completely. One day I'm hoping that someone will be able to investigate through these warped images they're fabricating in their advertising room, and expose to the public why they're choosing unrealistic images to lend to the public to "aspire to".
Posted by: Dahlia | Monday, October 12, 2009 at 05:38