Dear readers, I’m posting to warn you about two sites that recently plagiarized Smoke & Mirrors content.
- Update: The first company I had previously mentioned replied to my inquiry very quickly and gave me credit for the work, so I am removing their information from this post. A big thank you to them for resolving the situation reasonably and quickly!
- Universal Nail Supplies swiped my photo of the Gelish Royal Temptations Collection for their recent email campaign. I have shopped there before and receive their regular emails… Well, imagine my surprise when I received an email containing the image that my photographer and graphic designer had created for my YouTube Channel! Universal Nail Supplies had simply copied the image and cropped off the top part containing my logo:
Plagiarism:
“an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author’s work as one’s own, as by not crediting the original author”
Definition from Dictionary. com
Plagiarism sucks. But it is exactly what these two companies did with Smoke & Mirrors content.
As a blogger or content creator, you take the time, effort, energy, and funds to craft your website content, only to have it stolen for someone else to make money from. Perhaps you’re not even making money from it yourself! (The owner of Smoke & Mirrors nail blog is not compensated for any content. We do not make money from this blog.)
If you have had this happen to you or can imagine it, I am sure you are a little outraged, too. However, this is a common problem in creative circles. Nail techs are inspired by others’ nail art all the time, right?!?
Here’s a simple solution: GIVE CREDIT.
Did you do your own take on someone else’s design and post a photo? Give them some credit! Link to their site or blog or Insta or Tumblr or whatever. Let the viewer know who the awesome artist is that inspired you.
If you like someone’s photo or their product review, LINK TO THEIR SITE. Don’t be that crappy person who STOLE someone else’s content.
I’m too busy working full-time for a living, while creating original content and forming my own opinions for my blog in my personal time, to regularly search for other sites that may have stolen my work. Know that I did not go out looking for plagiarism of my site’s content. In the first instance I stumbled upon the stolen content during a Google search, and in the second the company actually emailed me.
At the time of this posting, Universal Nail Supplies has yet to respond to my email asking for credit, which was as follows (personal info redacted):
I ask that you do not support the thieves at these companies by shopping there. And fellow nail bloggers, please be on the lookout for these companies!
I’d also like to know – has this ever happened to you? How did you handle the situation?
Smoke & Mirrors nail art blog 