Mouth and Foot Painting Artists - beware!!

Mweya

Thank you for your comments, Lumstorm. Actually, I was replying to some of the points made in the Forum, under the mistaken belief that contributors had studied the MFPA website, which is well laid out, clear and easy to follow. On reflection, clearly most have not done that.

So for their information, the structure is that both the British organisation and the International one are wholly-owned by the disabled artists involved. Disabled artists elected by the membership make all policy decisions including agreeing the budgets and passing the annual accounts. They also employ any able-bodied staff required, and that staff is answerable to them. Under those circumstances, it is not possible for “a few directors to make a fortune” (to quote you) unless the artists choose to structure their business in that way, which I suspect is highly unlikely.

Similarly, the UK business is a limited company that is entirely owned in partnership by its disabled artists. So it is the disabled partners themselves who will vote on what their income should be. From my knowledge of business (and I have been in greeting cards), I would expect 35-55% of gross income to be available for sharing among the artists, depending on what costs have been incurred in that financial period. The site shows 49% in 2010 which is about right.

I hope we are all concerned at how much revenue these artists may have lost as a result of this forum, and might I suggest that anyone who has made negative comments will feel that the least they can do is to put right any wrong they may have done?

Pollycat

Mweya wrote: »

Thank you for your comments, Lumstorm. Actually, I was replying to some of the points made in the Forum, under the mistaken belief that contributors had studied the MFPA website, which is well laid out, clear and easy to follow. On reflection, clearly most have not done that.

So for their information, the structure is that both the British organisation and the International one are wholly-owned by the disabled artists involved. Disabled artists elected by the membership make all policy decisions including agreeing the budgets and passing the annual accounts. They also employ any able-bodied staff required, and that staff is answerable to them. Under those circumstances, it is not possible for “a few directors to make a fortune” (to quote you) unless the artists choose to structure their business in that way, which I suspect is highly unlikely.

Similarly, the UK business is a limited company that is entirely owned in partnership by its disabled artists. So it is the disabled partners themselves who will vote on what their income should be. From my knowledge of business (and I have been in greeting cards), I would expect 35-55% of gross income to be available for sharing among the artists, depending on what costs have been incurred in that financial period. The site shows 49% in 2010 which is about right.

I hope we are all concerned at how much revenue these artists may have lost as a result of this forum, and might I suggest that anyone who has made negative comments will feel that the least they can do is to put right any wrong they may have done?

I think you over-estimate the power of MSE. :rotfl:

At the end of the day, it is unsolicited mail.

MothballsWallet

Mweya - is their website fully compliant with all World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and ICANN rules?

Mweya

Hi Pollycat. Yes, that they send unsolicited mail is a valid criticism, and I have no problem with that point being made. But what about some of the other frankly libellous comments? What I have an issue with is the number of people who now use social media and forums to launch baseless attacks on people or organisations without a thought for the consequences.
They also debase social media and make it an unreliable source for factually correct information.


I regret that one only has to read this forum to see that some sales have been lost. But worse is the ripple effect where one person who has been persuaded by this not to buy will tell 10 others.... and so on. In business, we worked on the maxim that one bad testimonial would cancel out 100 good ones.
In terms of good publicity, I'm glad to see that the Queen has recently honoured a disabled artist who publicly expresses her pride in being an MFPA artist.

Pollycat

Mweya wrote: »

Hi Pollycat. Yes, that they send unsolicited mail is a valid criticism, and I have no problem with that point being made. But what about some of the other frankly libellous comments? What I have an issue with is the number of people who now use social media and forums to launch baseless attacks on people or organisations without a thought for the consequences.
They also debase social media and make it an unreliable source for factually correct information.


I regret that one only has to read this forum to see that some sales have been lost. But worse is the ripple effect where one person who has been persuaded by this not to buy will tell 10 others.... and so on. In business, we worked on the maxim that one bad testimonial would cancel out 100 good ones.
In terms of good publicity, I'm glad to see that the Queen has recently honoured a disabled artist who publicly expresses her pride in being an MFPA artist.

Mweya
If you think any of the comments on this thread are libellous, then report them to MSE.
There is a 'report' button under each post.

Mweya

Thanks Pollycat, and I've done what you suggested.

Mweya

Thanks for explaining to me what to do, Pollycat, and just to let you know the outcome, MSE have removed the offending post which was, quite frankly, just a gratuitous attack on MFPA as well as a snide comment about me. I also want to congratulate MSE on their swift action in removing that post - I guess we'd all like to see Twitter and Facebook be as responsible in removing their nastier posts - or am I being libellous now?

SpammyTheSpammer

You appear to have a very deep knowledge of the workings, revenue and setup of the the MFPA. Are you associated with them in a professional way?

Susie_Richards

My parents used to get these unsolicited 'free' foot and mouth cards every christmas, over 30 years ago.

I'm amazed that this 'alledged' scam is still going!

MothballsWallet

Mweya wrote: »

Thanks for explaining to me what to do, Pollycat, and just to let you know the outcome, MSE have removed the offending post which was, quite frankly, just a gratuitous attack on MFPA as well as a snide comment about me. I also want to congratulate MSE on their swift action in removing that post - I guess we'd all like to see Twitter and Facebook be as responsible in removing their nastier posts - or am I being libellous now?

Did you provide evidence to MSE as to why you thought the post was offending?