Advertisments and the Living

[bernard]

In another thread a person stated that no living person can be used in an advertisment without their permission.

- Does this mean that if in an advertisment the advertisers take a shot of people on the street walking along that those people are being used in the ad without their permission?

- Is this why lots of "street shots" in ads are increased in speed (i.e. so that nobody will be recognizable)?

- Or does it mean that if somebody took a shot of me eating a Big Turk (tm) they could not use that as in an ad for Big Turk (tm) without my permission?

[BoBettie]

Interestingly enough, just last week I was at Turning Stone casino in NY, and I happened to notice (at just one of the entrances) a sign reading somthing like "By entering the casino today, you grant permission to Turning Stone to use your likeness in any/all forms of advertising"

They certainly didn't make it very public, I just happened to see it. Maybe that's all a company has to do is "post notice".

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If at first you don't succeed, redefine success.

[Guy Propski]

I think that if someone used your image in an ad, you probably could sue them. The problem is trying to find yourself in a picture of a crowd.

In the example you site, the advertisers would have to have you sign a waiver, or pay you a fee to use your image. They can't just randomly walk into a Big Turk and start snapping photos.

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"Don't rush me! I'm thinkin!.....and my head hurts.."--Yosemite Sam

[Nickrz]

It is not illegal to photograph people in public.

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_152.html