Case: online uitvechten geschillen Stanton en DKNY

Het merk gebruikte beelden van fotograaf Brandon Stanton onder andere als etalagedecoratie. Stanton zei dat het merk hem $15.000 betaalde voor driehonderd foto’s. Toen Stanton zich realiseerde dat $50 per foto wel erg weinig was vroeg hij DKNY voor meer geld. DKNY weigerde waarna Stanton besloot hierover te klagen op Facebook.

Stanton gaf aan dat hij DKNY niet heeft gecontacteerd voor hij een klacht uitte op Facebook. Het uitvechten van problemen online is al langer een trend. De standaardweg om via een klantenservice je onrecht te halen wordt meer en meer passé. Ook Twitter is een veelgebruikt medium om te klagen, bijvoorbeeld door een hashtag te plaatsen van je vliegmaatschappij als je een vertraging hebt opgelopen.

Lees de volledige correspondentie tussen Stanton en DKNY op Facebook en Tumblr hier:

Stanton:

“I am a street photographer in New York City. Several months ago, I was approached by a representative of DKNY who asked to purchase 300 of my photos to hang in their store windows "around the world." They offered me $15,000. A friend in the industry told me that $50 per photo was not nearly enough to receive from a company with hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue. So I asked for more money. They said "no."

Today, a fan sent me a photo from a DKNY store in Bangkok. The window is full of my photos. These photos were used without my knowledge, and without compensation.

I don't want any money. But please SHARE this post if you think that DKNY should donate $100,000 on my behalf to the YMCA in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. That donation would sure help a lot of deserving kids go to summer camp. I'll let you guys know if it happens.”

DKNY:

Since its founding in 1989, DKNY has been inspired by and incorporated authentic New York into its imagery. For our Spring 2013 store window visuals we decided to celebrate the city that is in our name by showcasing "Only in NYC" images. We have immense respect for Brandon Stanton aka Humans of New York and approached him to work with us on this visual program. He declined to participate in the project.

For the Spring 2013 windows program, we licensed and paid for photos from established photography service providers. However, it appears that inadvertently the store in Bangkok used an internal mock up containing some of Mr. Stanton's images that was intended to merely show the direction of the spring visual program. We apologize for this error and are working to ensure that only the approved artwork is used.

DKNY has always supported the arts and we deeply regret this mistake. Accordingly, we are making a charitable donation of $25,000 to the YMCA in Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn in Mr. Stanton's name.

Stanton zijn reactie op Facebook:

$25k will help a lot of kids at the YMCA. I know a lot of you would like to have seen the full $100k, but we are going to take them at their word that it was a mistake, and be happy that this one had a happy ending. Thanks so much for your support, everyone.

DKNY reageerde ook op Tumblr:

For the spring 2013 windows program we licensed and paid for photos from established photography service providers. However, it appears that inadvertently the store in Bangkok used an internal mock up containing some of Mr. Stanton's images that was intended to merely show the direction of the strong visual program. We apologize for this error and are working to ensure that only the approved artwork is used.