I love matcha, and am always on the search to try matcha from different online shops, but recently I have come across shops that are using the same image for matcha! This was worrying to me as one of the things I always look for in matcha is the color. In my search for some new matcha i've found three shop's, including Rishi tea, that are using the same matcha images:
http://www.zenorganics.ca/contact.html
http://cgi.ebay.com/ORGANIC-IMO-CERTIFI ... m153.l1262
http://www.rishi-tea.com/store/product. ... =27&page=1
Are these companys trying to hide the fact that their matcha is not so green and low quality......I do wonder.....
They might be using a picture that is rights/royalty-free, or even something they've paid for because they don't have the equipment to shoot their own teas. Rishi probably has paid for the use of that photo, since it's on their packaging. In the Zen organics picture, it looks more like the picture is being use for decorative purposes than actually showing off their particular matcha. You might want to email each company and ask them to send you a picture of their matcha, if you're really very interested.
Sep 3rd, '08, 11:09
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scruffmcgruff
Sep 3rd, '08, 12:29
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Very interesting. Thanx for posting this and welcome Jonie to TeaChat.
As Scruff mentioned, Island Tea has "borrowed w/out permission" more than once as discussed by clicking here.
And to think, I was recently contemplating giving them a break and talking to Space about moving that topic. I am inclined to let it go now.
As Scruff mentioned, Island Tea has "borrowed w/out permission" more than once as discussed by clicking here.
And to think, I was recently contemplating giving them a break and talking to Space about moving that topic. I am inclined to let it go now.
Sep 3rd, '08, 12:59
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Space Samurai
While very similar, the Rishi image is actually different. Based on my experience, I would guess that the eBay store may have "borrowed" their image from Zen Organics.
Again in my experience, matcha is by far the most challenging teas to photograh, so it doesn't surprise me that small eBay shops and such would try to use other images to sell their product.
edit: when I first posted this comment, I hadn't noticed that the eBay store was Island Tea Shop. In that case, I am sure that (expletive) took the image without asking.
Two simultaneous threads running about Island Tea Shop's image theiving...
Again in my experience, matcha is by far the most challenging teas to photograh, so it doesn't surprise me that small eBay shops and such would try to use other images to sell their product.
edit: when I first posted this comment, I hadn't noticed that the eBay store was Island Tea Shop. In that case, I am sure that (expletive) took the image without asking.
Two simultaneous threads running about Island Tea Shop's image theiving...
Sep 3rd, '08, 13:14
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Space Samurai
Sep 3rd, '08, 19:46
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Geekgirl
If you do an image search, that image shows up on many sites, leading me to believe that it is a stock image. Not to say that IT did NOT steal it, (since they've demonstrated that they WILL lift images without permission,) just to say that Zen possibly doesn't own the image, but has purchased usage rights, as have (apparently) a number of other companies.
Thanks chip for welcoming me here!
I orginally was going to order from that island tea shop because the matcha image looked so nice, but now that i've read the posts on them I will definetly be spending my money elsewhere. On further searching I found that a lot of their images are stolen, even one from Japanese green tea online!
I often do searches by google images rather than web searches (don't ask why, that is something i've always done.) That's the reason I originally found the duplicated image. In my continued search I found one more company using the same image:
http://favourablegifts.com/index.php?ma ... ducts_id=9
and then I came across the source:
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup ... num=247787
It seems one of the previous replies was correct. They are using royalty free images.
You guys are right, on closer inspection I noticed that rishi teas image is different, but it's still worrying to see so many matcha sellers using these royalty free images of beautiful color matcha.......and the istockphoto website says that that image has been downloaded 224 times! so I guess many other companies are using it too!
I orginally was going to order from that island tea shop because the matcha image looked so nice, but now that i've read the posts on them I will definetly be spending my money elsewhere. On further searching I found that a lot of their images are stolen, even one from Japanese green tea online!
I often do searches by google images rather than web searches (don't ask why, that is something i've always done.) That's the reason I originally found the duplicated image. In my continued search I found one more company using the same image:
http://favourablegifts.com/index.php?ma ... ducts_id=9
and then I came across the source:
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup ... num=247787
It seems one of the previous replies was correct. They are using royalty free images.
You guys are right, on closer inspection I noticed that rishi teas image is different, but it's still worrying to see so many matcha sellers using these royalty free images of beautiful color matcha.......and the istockphoto website says that that image has been downloaded 224 times! so I guess many other companies are using it too!