What You Sign Away When You Reply #YES

I think that everyone will have seen the picture galleries that are gathering popularity on commercial websites. On the face of it, being able to show your selfie on a commercial site appears to be at least a possibility in gathering more followers and showing your work. I think you know there is a ‘but’ coming. It’s a massive, many layered but as well!

Basically, Olapic is a marketing tool, paid for by the brand and therefore entirely skewed in the brands interest. I’ve used the Lancome.co.uk site as an example although I’ve looked at several. When you look at the gallery, nowhere at all does it suggest there are terms and conditions. In order to be featured on the gallery wall, you will already have had to reply to a tweet or Instagram message with the hashtag #yeslancome when the brand requests to use your image – they’re not just randomly putting people up with no permission. But, the terms are harsh and don’t protect influencers at all – quite the opposite. If you fail to look at the terms because it’s so exciting to have your picture picked out to feature, then you’re in for a surprise.

I will also at this point flag up that when you click on a picture featured on Olapic slider, you are immediately taken through, not to the influencer’s Instagram where you could click to follow if you like the look of it, but to a Shop The Look point of sale to the product the person in the picture is wearing. It’s only if you look underneath the big and colourful picture and product that you’ll find, in a small white font, the clickable username of the influencer.

To find the Olapic Ts & Cs, click to Terms & Conditions at the very bottom of the website page, Click Olapic Gallery, Click Terms & Conditions within the blurb about Olapic and you’re finally taken to the terms. I have excerpts…

“By responding #YesLancome you agree to the following: 

You grant to Lancôme and its affiliates and/or related entities (collectively “Lancôme”) a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, non-exclusive, transferable right to use your video(s), photo(s) and/or other content posted to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Google+, together with your social media handle, social media user name, profile picture, caption and location information you may have included in your content (“User Content”) that you have tagged with any of the Hashtag(s) defined below in any media, including but not limited to on its webpages and social media pages, retailer sites, third party sites, stores for its marketing and/or its advertising. You grant Lancôme the right to use your username, real name, image, likeness or other identifying information in connection with any use of your User Content. 

Lancôme may use, display, reproduce, distribute, transmit, combine with other materials, alter and/or edit the User Content for legal and/or regulatory reasons in any way it sees fit (while maintaining the original sentiment), with no obligation to you whatsoever….

…. You consent to Lancôme’s collection of any personal information you provide, and Lancôme’s use and disclosure of that personal information in connection with the use of your User Content as described above. Your personal information may be transferred to or accessible from outside the EEA, and may be shared with affiliates or other trusted third parties working on Lancôme’s behalf. By posting User Content with any Hashtag(s) defined below or otherwise providing Lancôme with personal information, you agree to such collection, use, disclosure, transfer and processing of your information in accordance with these Terms and Conditions, Lancôme’s Privacy Policy, and applicable data protection laws and regulations. 

You will not hold Lancôme, or any person acting on Lancôme’s behalf, responsible for any claims or demands in connection with the use of your User Content. You accept that Lancôme will not pay you for the use of your User Content and/or for any intellectual property rights connected with them. 
You accept that Lancôme may refuse to use or remove your User Content for any reason.”

I don’t need to flag up that this leaves the image producer (influencer) with absolutely no rights over that image whatsoever, come what may. Lancome is a reputable brand and these are standard legal terms for any large company, so I don’t think for one moment this particular brand would do anything untoward with your images. But what they are doing, in common with other brands using Olapic and similar galleries, is leveraging what you produce to make sales for themselves. In the hands of a less reputable brand, I hate to think what these terms could mean for someone who didn’t read them through in the first place and agreed, feeling flattered, to the use of their images.

I think it would be more honest, and in the better interest of those presenting images, to have Terms & Conditions completely clickable by the Olapic slider and that these terms are more obvious and readily available. It’s not a tool to ‘share’ social, although that’s what it looks like at first glance… it’s a very strong, absolutely free marketing tool for the brand. So before you click #yeslancome (or #yesXBRAND, because there are lots of brands doing this), check the Ts & Cs to see if you really think it’s a worthwhile trade off.