I had grand plans for this weekend. Okay not grand, but definitely plans. I was going to take pictures of some of the new lines and collections that have recently been released, and I remembered to put my camera in my bag and everything! I started out with the new Bobbi Brown palettes and discovered, much to my surprise, that taking pictures is apparently tantamount to kicking puppies or something, so strong was the reaction of the store staff. I was immediately scolded and told that taking pictures is absolutely prohibited. For a minute I thought someone was going to take my camera away! You'd have thought that I was stealing merchandise, not inconspicuously photographing it! I later experienced the same thing at Sephora, trying to capture the Tarina Tarantino line. I can't explain why taking pictures is so frowned upon and when I asked why I was told "we're being watched." Oookay.
Luckily I got a few shots in before Camera-gate 2010 went down.
Bobbi Brown Bonfire, Aquamarine and Orchid Palettes:
Tarina Tarantino Eye Shadows:
I was decidedly unimpressed with the Tarina shadows. They are called Eye Dream Hypershadows as they supposedly have "high intensity pigment payoff" but I did not find them highly pigmented at all. It took several swipes for decent color to show up on my hand. The packaging is also too juvenile for both my tastes and the price tag.
Tarina Tarantino Eye Shadows:
I really like your blog so without wishing to be a killjoy I have to say.. - Taking photos of merchandise in stores has always been 'verboten' as the first thing it points to is organized shoplifting. (A huge problem for the retail trade that pushes prices up overall) In the age of blogs you might think you are doing them a favor by using the photo as good publicity but the store quite rightly sees having photos of their displays 'out there' as a security risk (this is especially true if you name the store where the photos were taken). The 'We're being watched' comment probably came from a warning they'd had about what would happen if they were seen on security camera to have aided such activity. Please consider whether you really need to do this as your readers don't need it, you could get into real trouble if you persist, and I'm sure there are other ways you can review products.
ReplyDeleteHi, Anonymous! I really appreciate your comment on this topic. I suppose I am just naive as it never struck me that taking product photographs could be considered either a precursor to theft or anything unsavory. Actually, I was initially taking photos of the BB to send to a friend without access to the line and then thought they might have greater appeal and posted them here. I'm truly interested in this topic and am curious as to how taking photographs could be considered a security risk or indicative of theft. If you could comment further it would be appreciated!
ReplyDeleteHi SB
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you didn't take my comment the wrong way and get offended..I've just worked in stores and know how awful it must have been for you to be bawled out like that. I'd love to comment further as I find marketing and security and stuff very interesting, but beyond what I've already said on the subject of photography I'm not sure what I can add, unless you can think of anything we can talk about :-)
joolz