emodel.com, Options Talent Group

Dear Modeling Scams,

Is emodel.com a scam? Seems to me that it is legitimate.

A.C.

A.,

emodel may certainly "seem" to be legitimate. But as the saying goes, "All that glitters is not gold."

The President of the Better Business Bureau has a lot of experience in dealing with scams, and he did not get to be President without learning to discern what is and what is not a scam.

Bill Mitchell, the President of the Better Business Bureau in Greater Los Angeles, said: "The whole thing, fundamentally, from beginning to end, is a scam."

That is an extremely powerful statement. And it may seem too extreme. But it becomes more and more credible as you research the history and background of the company.

For a company to be a scam in its entirety and from beginning to end, you might think it would have to be designed from the ground up by someone or a group of people with significant experience in and remarkable success at fraud.

If you start with Bill Mitchell's statement, and give him the benefit of the doubt, trace the history of the company from its founder, and see if you notice a clear pattern.

Editor, Modeling Scams.com

So far all I have seen is that it is a good way to get exposed. There is an upfront fee but it is minimal and compared to the price of professional photography, it is very little. Have you ever been to the website or spoken with anybody within the organization?

A.C.

The price is comparable to professional photography, when you add up the monthly fees for a year.

In theory it is "a good way to get exposed." But only if the website is visited by modeling agencies. You are not exposed to modeling agencies if they do not visit. How is being stuck in a pile of pictures on a web server that is never seen "exposure?"

emodel cannot guarantee modeling agencies will visit either the website or your picture; and you cannot make modeling agencies visit.

If emodel wants to get serious, all they have to do is mirror the standards of online advertising. You pay per click through. In this case from a text profile of vital statistics to a digital picture.

Member signs up sending in the photo. When an agency clicks on the thumbnail, and downloads your picture, the models pays x cents/download.

They only pay for exposure. If they do not receive exposure, they do not pay. That is a fair deal. Otherwise you can pay for no exposure, and that's not right.

They could also set it up because they have restricted access only to agencies to where each member (model) is automatically notified by email when an agency visits their picture, and they are also sent the name of the agency.

Then they would have the option of confirming with the agency that they did indeed use the service (emodel was not faking it and charging them), and possibly follow up by phone call, mailing, etc., sending professional modeling photos.

The new concept is not inherently wrong -- it's the emodel pricing which is out of date. Companies don't pay any more for advertising, promotion or exposure unless people actually click on the ad and visit their website.

Why should it be any different for individuals?

Editor, Modeling Scams.com

I have now been with the company for a short while and I'm thoroughly impressed. They do not accept everybody that comes in, therefore, I do not see this as any type of scam at all, just real talent getting real work. I plan on staying with the company.

A.C.

A.,

I don't think anyone has ever suggested emodel and now Options Talent accepts everybody. It is not a situation of absolutes. If you heard or read that it was a general statement.

The contention was emodel/Options Talent accepts too many people, setting the bar far too low. And the proof of this would be a very small percentage of people they say they think could be models actually get work.

We all want to see concrete data of real work. Here is a clip from a news article published in September 2001 that illustrated the lack of critical information without which it is virtually impossible for emodel/Options Talent to quash scam claims:

Brian Davis, general manager of eModel operations, boasts that 1,000 agencies are registered with the company, which has 90 franchises nationwide, including offices in Fort Lauderdale, Clearwater, Orlando, Palm Beach, Tampa Bay, and Boca Raton.

 

As for those agencies that haven't signed up with eModel, Davis says, "If you're an agency and you make money booking models on jobs, and there's a resource that's free for you, with models from across the world... why would you not use that?"

 

Moreover many models have landed work through the Website, he claims. Based on an analysis of agency calls to eModel, Davis estimates that about 85 percent of its clients are contacted by a registered agent within the first 90 days after they enroll.

 

He admits, however, that the business has no statistics showing how many models showcased on its site have actually procured work.

When you say "real work," can you be more specific? Are you talking about print work? Or promotional work.

So far the stories which make the news seem to suggest most models or people who become members of emodel/OTG cannot expect much more than promotional work which pays little and is not very exciting (e.g., handing out footballs).

All we want to know is exactly what modeling jobs OTG got models, through which agencies, and how much they were paid. Three things, it's very simple.

The way I see it, you either have a record of which models got work, or you don't. If you do have the information, you're hiding it. Because if it was high, you would feature it in your advertising. If you don't have a record, that is also a bad sign, because it would indicate the company could care less if most models/members are not getting work.

Your company could fake the statistics on call backs, but it cannot fake the stats for real work, because anyone could contact the agencies and possibly also the models to confirm they actually got work.

If OTG was getting models print work, there would be tear sheets and the name of the publication, which could also be verified easily and quickly.

Editor, Modeling Scams.com