FloristDetective.com is a consumer awareness site covering the floral industry. As a multi-billion dollar industry, flower retailing is certainly worth scrutinizing. There are plenty of scams and tricks in play, and Florist Detective tries to alert customers to potential fraud and educate them to buy smarter.
Recently, Florist Detective picked up the story of one florist who decided to video tape the unboxing of flowers delivered via courier from ProFlowers, a national company that claims to deliver flowers "fresh from the fields."
(Note: In other reports, ProFlowers has been exposed for storing pre-packaged flowers in regional warehouses across the USA. Their "fresh from the fields" flowers are shipped from growers in different countries to Miami, then to regional warehouses to be held until sold.)
The purpose of the unboxing video was to examine a potential concern in the delivery method used by ProFlowers and other drop-ship companies. ProFlowers does not require a signature on delivery, and does not require any temperature control during shipping. On this occasion, the flowers were delivered in Philadelphia in 7 degree fahrenheit weather. The flowers were frozen solid, enough to create a loud "thunk" when banged on the table.
After achieving #3 ranking on Google and nearly 32,000 views on YouTube, with numerous dubious "commenters" trying to disparage the video, the affect of the video was clear. ProFlowers served the florist with a Cease & Desist letter claiming the florist violated trademark law by including ProFlowers trademarked logo in the video.
I'm not a lawyer and I won't pretend to give legal advice, but in discussing the matter with an associate who specializes in US internet law I'm of the opinion that the C&D had no merit. The timing conveniently coincided with the Mother's Day holiday, one of the biggest events for a retail florist. Clearly, ProFlowers was trying to bully the florist into removing the video.
While at first this might seem like another victory for big business over a local merchant, this is turning into another case of bungled corporate reputation management. By serving up the C&D ProFlowers has tipped their hand that the video was making an impact. Over 30,000 people viewed the video and now Florist Detective is serving up the story and a copy of the ProFlowers Cease & Desist letter on their site.
A note to ProFlowers: Squashing the story doesn't work anymore. Ask Dell & Walmart. This is the web 2.0 age, it's time to engage the discussion. You can't kill it.
Well written, well stated. I'm a consumer. I don't shop at Wal Mart. I don't support Dell, and Pro Flowers falls into the same no shop zone for me.
Sorry, but how is it "scoring one for the little guy"? The Bloomery put up this video that was ACCURATE, over the last year many independent florists linked to it, which moved it to PAGE 1 of Google for the search term "ProFlowers", which IMO was a public service, because ProFlowers covers up the problems that come with flowers that come shipped in a box.
Then, once ProFlowers starts feeling the sting, they send their lawyers who throw around words like "trademark infringement" to frighten this little florist into taking down the video (and wipe out all the hard work all the independent florists did in linking to it from their sites).
ANY two-bit kid out of law school knows that the use of the trademark "ProFlowers" in the Bloomery's case was WELL within legal usage. But unfortunately, my guess is that whoever runs the Bloomery just fell for the scare tactics and ran with their tail between their legs at the first sign of saber rattling.
Score one for the BIG guy.
I don't think the work has been wiped out.
That video was viewed 32,000 times. That's a lot of people seeing what PF really delivers.
Additionally, florists realized the power of their combined strength as PF tried with various SEO tactics to bump the video, then had to resort to the lawyers. If challenged, I'm confident their claim would not have stood up.
The story is gaining awareness, and the Florist Detective page on the issue is ranking highly for ProFlowers name, as is this blog entry.
After years of taking punches from ProFlowers, florits hit back and it hurt. I think they scored one, and will be back with more.
Ryan
I hope you're right, and I hope EVERY florist who reads this who has their own blog or website will link to this page or the Florist Detective page. The Bloomery missed a huge opportunity. Had a lawsuit been filed they would have had the support of the entire florist community (I, for one, would have contributed up to $1000 for their legal defence).
And they would have won, guaranteed. To say that it was "trademark infringement" is the most laughable part. Comparative advertising is a valid exception to trademark law.
It's just sad that ProFlowers' lawyers scared them into submission. Where are the lawyers who are telling ProFlowers to stop saying "skip local florists because they don't care about you" or "you don't LOVE your recipient if you use a local florist"?