Urban Decay Electric Palette

No pics? Nope. And, I’ll tell you why.

Anyone posting pictures of Urban Decay’s newest palette, Urban Decay Electric, gets an ‘intellectual property’ notice slapped on them which essentially tells anyone posting that they have to take it down or risk further action. I would assume further action means getting legal.

This is really interesting and hasn’t happened for quite a long time in my experience (the last one I can remember was Ciate). The trouble is, is that the picture is already leaked (I understand that UD are urgently sourcing the leak) and is readily available on line to view. I get it 100% that brands want to protect their own products and release them as and when they seem fit. It’s totally their right to do that, but in a case, such as this one, where you can’t unsee a thing once you’ve seen it, and they don’t seem to be able to cap the images from propagating across the world wide web, it seems a not very graceful move to get legal and heavy.

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I like Urban Decay products a LOT – they do what they do really, really well – shimmers that are unbeatable, formulas that really work (I am never without my UD eye primer – it’s in daily use and in my view is the very best out there) and of course, the Naked Palettes.

Blogs allow you to see behind the brands sometimes so what consumers don’t get is the front-facing, overly PR’d messaging, but more the real thing, warts and all, with honest and open discussion about products. There are many brands who’d love to get the blog love that UD does, so it’s a move that won’t make many bloggers very happy. The wider implications are that other brands follow suit and then literally all that consumers will get is the front-facing edit and that’s not what blogs are about at all. UD will have put a lot of resources into getting beautiful imagery so it’s understandable that the pictures circulating are not the ones they would like to appear all over the internet – but there is a slender two weeks between what is available now and when they’re prepared to release what they’d prefer us to see. It seems churlish given that time-line to garner negative attention at this stage when a more friendly damage limitation exercise would have been to supercede the poor images with absolutely beautiful ones as soon as possible. Can you imagine the amount of on-line activity that would occur as the result of a court-case against a blogger? I imagine it would far outweigh any of the normal coverage and leave a very nasty taste in the mouth to boot leaving the brand and the product tainted for ever.

So, what do you think? It raises all kinds of interesting questions about where blogging is going and brand attitudes on how they attempt to utilise bloggers. I’ll go back to my stock phrase that blogging is the gift that the beauty industry was waiting for – it generates intense activity around the beauty arena and without it, brands would sure notice! Let me know your views on this hot potato.

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Jane Cunningham

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22 responses to “Urban Decay Electric Palette”

  1. Lesley

    Having gone straight to the web to look, the only people who I think could possibly want it would be stage makeup artists or for the Halloween session on Strictly Come Dancing! Horrid.

    Reply
  2. Emma

    It’s a bit strange they are being so forceful about it. I understand them wanting it to be secret and exciting, but it’s 2014 and people blogging about their products and sharing the excitement surely raises their profile and spreads the word?!

    Having looked online, I like the packaging but would never wear the colours in a million years!

    http://thebravestindividual.blogspot.co.uk/

    Reply
  3. Jo

    Using some magical search engine device, I too have now seen it. I think they should just use some press line like “You’ve all be so excited about Electric that you’ve found some images so here are our even better looking ones!” and just leak it all now.
    Like Lesley, it’s nothing I’d personally buy but seems to be their answer to the endless Naked line and re-establishing their colourful Urban Decay-ness. I imagine Naked has bought lots of new consumers to them that wouldn’t normally look at UD (and are now loving it I imagine! and considering other products so I totally get their Naked obsession) while this is catering to the original fanbase.

    Reply
  4. Kat

    Personally, I think once the cat is out of the bag they should just let it go. Pursuing bloggers legally is just going to damage relationships/their reputation. They got a lot of hate from customers about the way they handled the Naked 3 release. If there’s going to be another drama over another UD palette, people might just wash their hands of them.

    Reply
  5. Angie

    It’s all looking a bit ‘Sleek’ when I had a look

    Reply
  6. Amy

    I think UD should be careful with how they handle things like this. It only takes one mistake for the hate snowball to start. Things get out of hand so quickly online today, that there is no going back.

    They should take the leak and roll with it and be happy that people are excited.

    Reply
  7. Hev

    That attitude puts me off a brand straight away. It only makes me think that they are stuck up and they think they are the best in their game to the point that no one else can do anything without their say so.
    That just achieves me going buying another brand, I hate that hard handed attitude by any company

    Reply
  8. Emma

    Well there’s little point taking that attitude when it’s there for all to see in my opinion. They should really be aware that the bloggers they are taking an attitude with are their best advertisers-doesn’t seem like a very wise move. They should just be happy that people are excited about their products, although having googled it, personally I don’t see what the fuss is about-it isn’t something I’d buy. I can see makeup artists using it but not your average person.

    Reply
  9. Sarah

    Nobody wants to see a blogger getting pounced on and slapped with legal papers, and if that particular blogger has a huge following then the brand in question is going to go down in the estimation of quite a few of those bloggers fans. I get that UD want to keep a lid on upcoming, exciting products, but they also want to generate a buzz for the RIGHT reasons. Bloggers can be a pretty powerful force when reckoned with. UD’s attitude to this ‘leak’ has really altered my opinion of them!

    Sarah 🙂
    Saloca in Wonderland

    Reply
  10. Kate

    Although I understand that brands don’t want knock-offs of their products beating them to market, taking a hard line with bloggers or on line forums is incredibly counter productive. If anything, early glimpses build anticipation for the “original”. People won’t want an Urban Decay product any less just because a cheaper no-name version is available on eBay.

    Also, if brands want to rip each other off, they don’t need to turn to the web to do it. They just have to turn to people in the industry, who get such information long before there’s even a picture for bloggers to leak.

    The long-term consequences of this can be significant. You can’t take back a threat once made and the reaction of many bloggers is simply to remove the brand from consideration for reviews. If the blog is (or grows to be) very influential, that’s potential robbing them of many thousands of viewer impressions for years, to say nothing of the bad press it gets the brand to pick on an individual. Seems like a hefty price to pay in the name of trying to maintain control.

    Reply
  11. Nicola

    Gosh, this is hard for me to say because I love UD. They are hands down my favorite makeup brand and the one that I would keep if being sent to some kind of desert island and only allowed one brand for the rest of my life.

    When the whole China incident occurred, I stopped purchasing their products and had decided not to purchase from them any more. Obviously they realised the error of their ways and backtracked pretty quickly, and although I was relieved that I felt I could buy from them again, I thought the way that they handled the whole incident was embarrassing.

    This is the icing on the cake. It’s as if they’ve completely changed their ethos and their new way of working puts a bad taste in my mouth. It will kill me to stop buying from them, but I can see the day coming and I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels this way. Thank you for pointing this ou in your articlet; you’re never one to shy away from telling it like it is. I’ll be forwarding my comments to UD and hopefully I’m not the only person to tell them to sort themselves out.

    Reply
  12. Eve

    I agree with BBB that it is for Urban Decay to decide what it wants to do.

    That said, I can think of any number of reasons why UD would want to control how it releases information regarding new product launches, and ought to get it, ranging from meeting its own commercial imperatives to pleasing its consumers, but none of that matters. In the end, it is, and should be, UD’s choice. Whilst getting an “intellectual property notice” strikes me as the sort of thing that probably feels scary to the recipient, in fact it probably doesn’t result in much else, particularly if you take the pictures down. What it is not is inherently disrespectful to the blogger or UD’s consumers. Bloggers who put the pictures up regardless of the consequences of their actions are not fearless warriors crusading for the truth; they’re stealing someone else’s work to further their own commercial ends. And you may well say at that point, from the perspective of a blogger, “oh well, it’s out now; just tell me about it anyway”. But would you do that if it was your project? Maybe, but equally maybe not. A far more sensible tack, it strikes me, is to point out to UD that you’ve been decent, respectful of UD’s IP (much as you’d expect someone to treat yours) and have behaved well by not putting the pictures up and so when the launch does come out, you trust that UD will remember who its true friends in the blogging community are.

    In other news, and far more interesting from a legal and business perspective, I understand that UD is being sued in the UK in the IPEC by Enormous Yes Company Limited regarding UD’s use of the NAKED trade mark, see Enormous Yes Company Limited v Urban Decay Cosmetics LLC. Enormous Yes Company Limited owns a UK trade mark registration for NAKED covering cosmetics. There was a hearing a couple of weeks ago on a procedural matter, which was reported but as it concerned a procedural matter, it did not say much about the merits of either side’s case. However, given the importance of the NAKED sub-brand to UD, I’ll be following that case with interest if it runs.

    Reply
  13. Wonderlusting

    A lot of blogs have a notice that says if this is your picture and you want it removed please let us know so I’m assuming that is just what the UD notice is though it sounds scary. Lawyers rather than marketing/PR teams are behind that heavy handed move. However I do think that intellectual property matters and as you say UD have the right to protect their work as they please. It also opens the can of worms of what being a publisher (as bloggers are) legally means. In a similar way to injunctions, just because information is available on the internet, doesn’t offer legal protection and is no defence. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

    Reply
  14. Maria

    I think its a marketing strategy so we all talk about it – as we are 🙂

    and after using a search engine and taking all of 10 sec to find it: No, would never wear the colours either, far too bright for me – and I like colour. Wonder if I would have worn them 20 years ago…

    Reply
    1. Hev

      Good point about the marketing it never crossed my mind.

      Reply
  15. CherrySue

    I’m with you 100% Jane and only had this exact conversation with a UD sales girl a couple of weeks back.

    In a digital age it is almost impossible to keep a beauty secret, I genuinely think the more savvy approach would have been to bring forward the release of their approved images.

    The blogging community can be very defensive when it comes to C&D letters being issued to a fellow blogger and can result in huge sale losses for the brand, so it’s a tricky PR line to walk.

    For my part, when the images arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks back, from an American source, I got in touch with UDs PR Team directly and they couldn’t have been nicer. They explained the embargo and the difficulties they are facing, that was enough to keep me firmly on their side.

    Can I just mention though, Blogs that put up a ‘if this is your image let us know’ Disclaimer are breaking the law, no ifs ands or buts about it. Source correctly and Ask permission to use images, if not you’re giving the entire community a bad name and we work too hard for that to happen.

    Just my tuppence.

    Reply
  16. Nikki

    Reminds me of Sleek’s Acid palette. putting it through the search engine there are photos of swatches of UD electric palette unless these are fake? At first I thought UD should roll with the advanced unofficial photos but Eve (above) changed my view a little. UD has had a lot of copycats namely MUA’s Undress me, Undress me too and smokin’ palette.(Who I love.) UD probably felt that enough was enough and wanted to claw back some control. However from reading comments above it sounds as tho UD haven’t had a good track record of handling problems with grace.

    Reply
  17. MontyC

    Tbh, that kind of behaviour would cool my opinion of a brand. It took me all of two seconds to find pictures and swatches of this palette so it’s a bit late for UD to get precious about it.

    Reply
  18. strikkelise

    I googled.
    I have been coveting the Naked 3, but stilling feeling unsure about it. I also was annoyed that it was sold out the moment it became available and only months later reappeared. Now I think I’ll skip it altogether.

    Reply
  19. Dawn

    Don’t bite the hand that feeds you I say. It’s because of blogger recommendations that some brands sales increase. They just look childish and unprofessional, they should release their own pics…..get the control back.

    Reply
  20. Tracy

    Perhaps the blogger can send me an advance copy of her next article and I will leak it on some other sites before she has a chance to post it.
    Then we can see how she feels when the shoes on the other foot.

    Reply
    1. Jane

      It wasn’t a blogger.. it came up in a forum x

      Reply

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