I was checking my feed today for new store pics, when I saw this come up:
I clicked through, and lulu’s post basically features a list of lulu products, packed in a lulu bag, for a vacation.
Some of you may remember my post a couple months back about packing for my cross-country trip:
In my post, I talked about going to a hot climate and doing some working out during my trip. And of course, the entire point of the post was “can I do it all in a carry-on”. Lulu’s post hits those same exact 3 points (and it’s not really even summer anymore when talking about vacations and hot climates makes more sense!).
I’m really undecided how I feel about it.
On the one hand, it could be a complete and total coincidence, and I’m just being sensitive. There’s nothing new under the sun, right? I don’t want to get my self-important panties in a bunch if it’s really nothing.
On the other hand, there’s always an element of frustration if someone uses your ideas without credit. Obviously I would much rather them share my actual post if they liked my idea.
On yet another hand (3 hands? why not), imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as the saying goes, and it would be pretty flattering if lulu was taking cues from me.
What do you all think? Coincidence or copycatting?
I’m not sure but a while back… Many years ago Lululemon Addict and Lulumum fought about copying each other… One of them would say, “I posted first” and now they hang out at SeaWheeze together and have lunch and drinks, lol! I think when you blog about certain things, same ideas do get brought up but I have seen people straight up copy Facebook posts word for word (especially fitness pages) and get called out on it.
Yeah I mean if you’re acting as a news syndicate about almost the exact same things, a lot of overlap is bound to happen. As I mentioned below, it’s not the general concept of the post (which is certainly nothing super-unique), just the word choice and the spin that seems alike–if nothing else, it’s not particularly creative. :) Copying word for word is definitely a totally different ballgame though!
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, though I have yet to wear my Lab Night Tights with a sweater and scarf I will get to it one of these days :)
How about a post about vacations to colder climates when warmer clothing is a necessity? I’m going to Dublin and London in November and I could really use help on what to pack to keep my baggage weight light and my body warm and dry while I’m walking between tourist destinations in drizzly 40 degree weather and taking morning runs through the same conditions.
Packing light is definitely way harder in cold weather, that’s for sure! I don’t have any trips planned right now, but I will definitely keep that in mind!
Eh… I’ve seen posts like that before on other blogs. I’ve even seen posts like that on the Lululemon blog before. Like you said, there’s nothing new under the sun. Besides it’s not really Lulu’s post, it’s the author’s. I’ve written for a blog like that before and you can pretty much write anything with impunity as long as it deals with the subject matter. And a lot of times things inspire us and months later we don’t rememeber where it inspiration came from. I doubt the editor would recognize the post on sight and be like “that’s from AA, can’t use it”. I think it’s just a coincidence.
Yeah, travel posts or even posts about packing light are a dime a dozen. What really rubbed me the wrong way was how similar the wordage seemed to me. Like, if the spin was “packing light for a camping excursion” or “packing for a weeklong holiday in a backpack”, it would’ve slid right on by. It’s the emphasis on active/hot/carry-on that had me a bit leery. It just seems like a lot of things in common when they could’ve easily emphasized or changed something to make it different.
Honestly, I think it is just coincidence. I’ve seen any number of articles, pictures on Pinterest, etc where someone shows what to pack for a hot climate where they might be doing something remotely active. Your article and the Lulu blog post use different bags and the assortment of clothing is different. If the Lulu post had picked the exact same bag plus almost identical clothing choices then you might have reason to feel like they ripped off your post.
I do appreciate that you took your post a step further and actually showed all the clothing fitting into the bags. The Lulu post comes up short on that and I was sitting there wondering how much would actually fit because if you put a yoga mat in the Yogini Rucksack it takes up a lot of space! I honestly don’t think all the clothing they pictured would fit given there were 3 pairs of shoes. If one assumes that you are a wearing a large portion of the items shown because you layer, then the remainder with 2 pairs of shoes would probably fit. I was more annoyed by their post because a lot of the items aren’t out in the US right now so if you click on the link it says unavailable or sold out.
Thanks for your thoughts. :) I agree with you that I’m not entirely convinced that it would all fit, and it was kind of silly of them to promo items when many of them aren’t available yet. I think the mat was supposed to be strapped onto the outside of the backpack(?), but if that’s the case, it probably wouldn’t pass carry-on size restrictions for airlines.
More importantly: what about, like, brushing your teeth? Wearing deodorant? Socks? And, ya know, underwear??? Those things can take up a significant amount of space too but they weren’t included.
Haha, yes, they left out all the important items like toiletries and underwear! I find that toiletries take up a significant amount of space in my carry-on. Actually what really takes up space (and quickly adds weight) are all the electronic chargers I need for my phone, iPad, and camera batteries. Only in my dreams could I get on with only a purse! :o)
Great work with the blog! I like that you list which store posted the picture — it is really helpful :o)
Yes, it probably is coincidence. But if it were me I probably couldn’t hold back from adding a comment to the effect of, “I asked myself that very question this summer, and came up a similar answer. Here’s what I packed in my Lulu carryon” & give the link. :-)
Hehe well yes. ;)
As a fan of your blog and fellow blogger, I can tell you not to sweat it! I agree with the majority that it was probably a mere coincidence. I’m not seeing too many similarities that would make it a blatant copy. They are an athletic apparel company that focuses on yoga clothes. I can see them easily trying to tie their core pieces (light yoga pieces) with their seasonal pieces (winter warming layers) into an article.
I’m a guest blog contributor for Athleta, and I am also working on a 3 month guest blogging gig for another activewear company. One of the articles they wanted me to write was the exact same theme. Packing for the holidays/activewear for a week. I think PopSugar Fitness actually did a same segment with their group of fitness bloggers for the summer series….we were asked to contribute an article on what we would pack for a week or a weekend trip.
I wouldn’t sweat the smaller things. Everyone looks online for content and ideas for new material. I’m constantly reading any fitness fashion article I can get my hands on for inspiration. I think bloggers start to cross that line when they directly steal that material or take larger themes that are easy to distinguish.
If you think they may have been heavily “inspired” by your post, I would take Jenn’s advice and post a friendly comment on their page. It’s kind of a passive aggressive way of handling it, but if you word it positively, you might redirect some traffic to your blog from a larger audience….a negative comment will just be blocked or deleted. If it is blatant copyright, I would ensure you have a disclaimer on your blog and contact the blog/company directly. I would only pursue this route if you could prove it.
Hope that helps! Keep up the great work!
Thanks so much, Carrie, I always value your input! I’ll have to use this as a reminder to go through and make sure that I’ve got my bases covered in case some sort of blatant ripping off happens in the future, as you mentioned! Hopefully it won’t anyway…
By the way….they didn’t do a very good job with making it a practical article. As some has already said…they didn’t even have “essentials” and what they did put in there looked like it would max out the bag’s space. Tsk tsk…LLL.
Definitely. The purpose of the post seemed to be “look, we can take a pretty picture of our stuff laid out all nice”–more of a marketing ploy than an attempt to actually make actionable suggestions.
Just a thought….maybe their article was prompted by the recent announcements by several airlines (here in Canada) that there will be an extra charge for stowed bags. I believe west jet, air Canada and porter are among the ones who will be charging around $25 extra to passengers buying economy tickets if they want to bring a bag that needs to be checked in … hence the desire to try to fit your stuff into a carry-on bag only.
However, the author might still be copying you…and is writing it now because of the airline thing.
Interesting point! Being an American, I wouldn’t know about the changes to that policy. In the US, there’s been a charge for checked bags for a while now. :