One Man, One Bullhorn

Posted on June 19, 2006
Filed Under Blogs |

One of my favorite writers is Michael Yon and he has been in a dispute with a French publishing company about a new magazine they recently launched. While some have objected to the content of the magazine I will reserve judgement because they have a right to publish whatever content they want, however, they do not have the right to steal copyrighted material from individuals as was the case when they launched their new magazine with a Michael Yon photograph on the cover, an image they did not pay Yon for the right to use. Yon did what any blogger would do, he wrote about it and the subsequent settlement negotiations that ultimately fell through. The story was picked up widely by blogs, and ultimately by general and trade media, who started to call on retailers to pull the magazine from shelves, which to date 6,923 retailers have done.

On one hand I applaud the actions of the blogosphere to correct a wrong and punish a corporate entity for attempting to use their size to steamroll an individual who they believed would be unable to react to their actions, but on the other I wonder if this mob mentality is such a good thing. For example, what if the settlement negotiations ended because Yon was demanding an egregious amount of money for rights to the image on the basis of the public reaction he instigated? In order to be objective you would have to ask that question, however, the other side of the coin is that Yon was able to instigate a mass reaction because he has attained a position of trust and integrity, both values that were perceived to be absent in HFM (the French company).

Perhaps if HFM enjoyed the strong brand perception of integrity that Yon has the public reaction would have been muted while it was sorted out, which of course is a lesson for corporate brand people that the reputation your company enjoys is increasingly a function of your actions as opposed to simply the advertising you incessantly run.

Michael Yon : Online Magazine: Already, these retailers have agreed not to sell Shock magazine, and more than 5,000 stores have pulled the magazine from their shelves. Check back here often as we will post the news as each new retailer responds to your concerned communications.

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