A popular New Zealand baker has accused model and TV personality Chrissy Teigen’s team of stealing her design for cake mix packages.
The beef erupted Monday when baker Jordan Rondel, known as “The Caker” as per her company name, posted an Instagram post contrasting the packaging design of her cakes with the packaging design of Teigen’s baking goods (known as Cravings).
“Sooo this has happened. Chrissy Teigen released her own line of elevated baking mixes (pictured here alongside mine) right after we collaborated on a cake mix together,” she wrote as a caption.
The two designs looked eerily similar.
Look:
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Rondel added that while she has “no issue with anyone releasing baking mixes,” the similarity in designs was troubling.
“I think you guys are right that this particular situation isn’t chill, especially because we’re just a small sister run business,” she wrote.
She stressed, though, that she wasn’t coming at Teigen herself but rather her team.
“Chrissy was actually lovely to work with and I don’t want this to turn into a dramatic witch hunt,” she explained.
In an interview with the Daily Mail published Thursday, Rondel made sure to reiterate this point.
“Chrissy herself was the initial contact who reached out to me on Instagram. She was super lovely and immediately contacted me with her team,” she said, describing her prior collaboration with the model.
She added that she’s still perfectly A-OK with Teigen but that “there did seem to be a disconnect” between her and her staff.
That being said, her fans appear to view things differently. Indeed, Teigen has been bombarded with attacks on social media ever since Rondel dropped her accusation on Monday:
Ripoff artist. Don’t steal from the Caker Chrissy all of New Zealand will remember
— InTheWeeds (@VickyWeeds) November 3, 2022
@chrissyteigen not only are you a bully, now you are a thief…..stealing package designs now?? FAKE Girl please. Such an ugly person
— Nikki Martel (@neecole3) November 3, 2022
Returned to Twitter after 7 yrs to call out @chrissyteigen for theft of intellectual property. The Caker built her brand for years only to have it stolen by @chrissyteigen #supportsmallbusiness #chrissyteigenisathief #supportthecakernz #thecakernz #chrissyteigenismorallybankrupt
— Andi Jandal (@1freshjandal) October 31, 2022
@chrissyteigen can’t you do anything original on your own. Your cake boxes look exactly like the Caker, impossible that you didn’t see hers and you “borrowed” her artwork! You are so pathetic! Hope she takes you to court. Your ego is over the top!
— Rita Smith (@RitaSmi03443019) November 4, 2022
Hello Chrissy Teigen; how dare you rip off our amazing Jordan Rondel – shame on you! You’re behaving in the most appalling way. Jordan has built her brand as The Caker and she let you in and supported you in the most possible way. The almighty USD does not justify your way
— Gilly Blandford (@blandford_gilly) November 2, 2022
Teigen has, for her part, said nothing about the accusation. However, a representative for her baking mix brand, Cravings, did issue a statement to Rolling Stone magazine.
“Images posted on social media by The Caker team compared the front of our box and the back of their own. The front of their packaging is different from the photographic approach we took, with their design tending to be a solid, bold color, which is actually a sleeve rather than the traditional box style we have used,” the statement reads.
Rondel didn’t seem impressed by this minor contrast.
“I just looked at it and said, ‘shoot.’ Clearly, they had a whole team of designers, it just seems a bit lazy to me that with the whole team behind them, which we don’t have, that they could have come up with something just a little bit different,” she said.
According to Rolling Stone, “Rondel concedes that Cravings stuck to the agreements they had in place, with Teigen’s line priced at $10 per box, compared to The Caker’s $25 price tag. Initially, Rondel says she wasn’t planning on addressing Teigen’s line, but the show of support from her customers made her speak out about the growing controversy.”
With that in mind, she has no intention of filing a lawsuit over the matter. Her only hope is that other small business owners learn from her mistake.
“The bigger story here is less so about what Cravings or Chrissy Teigen might have done to The Caker, it’s more so how the ‘Big Guy’ can stomp on the small guy so easily and walk away with more rewards than the small guy did in the beginning,” she said.
“I’m trying to look on the bright side and see [Cravings] as a healthy competition; maybe the elevated cake mix market needs a bit more attention. Maybe, in the long run, it will help us,” she concluded, trying to see the bright side in what’s happened.
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