# Is unauthorized product placement and portrayal of real people in fiction legal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 2022, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105 "2022-09-24T00:27:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/41 "2022-09-26T05:43:39Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Movies and TV productions in some cases also go out of their way to ensure that character names aren’t likely to piss someone out there off. Novelists don’t worry about that as much. Unless it’s Stephen King, that’s the kamikaze defense. “Go ahead and sue, you won’t even recover enough for lawyers’ fees”. Whereas 19th Century Fox has plenty of money. The only thing more career limiting than doing something that could cost your company millions, is if you do and your company can actually pay those millions. But the two most important things car - “can we sue?” and “if we sue, what will the publicity look like?” OTOH, sometimes it helps to make a point that some stuff will not go unanswered. (“libel chill”). > **[McLibel case](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLibel_case)** > > McDonald's Corporation v Steel & Morris EWHC 366 (QB), known as "the McLibel case", was an English lawsuit for libel filed by McDonald's Corporation against environmental activists Helen Steel and David Morris (often referred to as "The McLibel Two") over a factsheet critical of the company. Each of two hearings in English courts found some of the leaflet's contested claims to be libellous and others to be true. > The original case lasted nearly ten years which, according to the BBC, made it th... The story about this was that it apparently made other critics think twice, since their life would be tied in knots for years if they went too far criticizing McD. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/42 "2022-09-26T18:42:39Z")
There was also an actual TV cartoon series about Trump. > **[Our Cartoon President (Official Series Site) Watch on Showtime](https://www.sho.com/our-cartoon-president)** > > The official site of the SHOWTIME Original Series Our Cartoon President. Find out about new episodes, watch previews, go behind the scenes and more. I assume that there are broad legal protections for parody and satire. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/43 "2022-09-26T20:17:38Z")
I thought Doonesbury depicted Bush the Lesser as a feather floating in the air. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/44 "2022-09-26T22:45:30Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > Whereas 19th Century Fox has plenty of money. Not in 19th Century dollars it doesn’t. The McLibel case took place when the law of defamation in the UK was wildly biased against the defendants. It finally got revised in 2013. Neither EU nor American law would have allowed it. > [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > There was also an actual TV cartoon series about Trump. Coming to Comedy Central in October. > [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > I assume that there are broad legal protections for parody and satire. As said several times already in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/45 "2022-09-26T22:55:09Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I thought Doonesbury depicted Bush the Lesser as a feather floating in the air. That’s what I remembered, too, but [Wikipedia indicates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doonesbury_characters#Real_people) that Dan Quayle was who Trudeau depicted with a feather. He apparently used one of the “thousand points of light” to depict George H.W. Bush (so I did get that one wrong); George W. Bush was shown as an asterisk (signifying the contested 2000 election), originally wearing a cowboy hat, then wearing a Roman military helmet (as in the image I shared above) after the start of the Gulf War. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/46 "2022-09-26T23:06:25Z")
I’d like to point out ( I don’t I did yet) that Family Guy depicted OJ Simpson as a murderer and Bill Clinton as a womanizer. While OJ was found not guilty of killing Nicole and Ron, the average person thinks he did it. So, it would be very difficult to prove damage to his reputation. Bill’s affair with Monica is excedingly well documented. So, he would have the same problem. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/47 "2022-09-26T23:07:47Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > That’s what I remembered, too, but [Wikipedia indicates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doonesbury_characters#Real_people) that Dan Quayle was who Trudeau depicted with a feather. Heh, I have trouble keeping dumb Republicans separate in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/48 "2022-09-26T23:16:55Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > it would be very difficult to prove damage to his reputation Some people are referred to as “libel proof,” meaning their reputation is so bad, that no matter what somebody says, it’s not going to changes the person’s public perception. For example, no horrible lie about Donald Trump could make his supporters hate him, or his detractors think less of him than they already do. One somewhat forgotten fictional portrayal of real life people is the Trey Parker and Matt Stone comedy _[That’s my Bush!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That%27s_My_Bush!)_ which aired a few episodes at the beginning of GWB’s presidential term. It had George, Laura, and some other characters based on real people, as well as sitcom tropes like a wacky neighbor and a wise house keeper. It was more a satire of sitcoms than political satire. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/49 "2022-10-01T16:25:14Z")
Plus there’s the matter in the case of US media of the higher threshold here for “public figures” to try and claim protection from disparaging depictions. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/50 "2022-10-01T19:00:48Z")
[Moderating] > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Trump has been a rabid public idiot for decades. Trudeau put out an entire book of cartoons about him. He’s always had his face shown. Why stop now? He’s not an actual politician, merely a joint hallucination for a few years. This is a pretty extreme and uncalled-for political swipe, in a thread that isn’t particularly political. I’m going to have to give you an official Warning for this one. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/51 "2022-10-02T06:43:04Z")
There’s the story about Robert Service. He worked in a bank in the Yukon during the gold rush. He wrote a number of poems about the life there, the most famous being _The Cremation of Sam McGee._ Apparently he used names of real bank clients and the story goes that Sam McGee had to leave town because he got tired of being asked if he was warm yet. > **[The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W. Service | Poetry Foundation](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45081/the-cremation-of-sam-mcgee)** > > There are strange things done in the midnight sun > There are strange things done in the midnight sun > By the men who moil for gold; > The Arctic trails have their secret tales > That would make your blood run cold; > The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, > But the queerest they ever did see > Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge > I cremated Sam McGee ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/52 "2022-10-02T16:22:39Z")
It must have been even worse for Dan McGrew. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/53 "2022-10-02T16:38:00Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > _The Cremation of Sam McGee._ Apparently he used names of real bank clients and the story goes that Sam McGee had to leave town because he got tired of being asked if he was warm yet. Heh, I once won a speech contest when I was a kid with this poem. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/54 "2022-10-02T16:47:27Z")
> [@phs3](#): > > This isn’t legally enforceable, of course, but with the studios all being part of mega-corporations, pissing off Apple is not something any of them wants to do. This is a good point that, even outside of the possibility of being sued, the media-conglomerate-mega-corporation likely has a relationship with the consumer-goods-mega corporation that goes well beyond the specific movie or show in question. This will impact their behavior regardless of their legal rights. On the _It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia_ podcast, the creators revealed that FX had made a deal with Budweiser to have their branding in the bar during the first season. After the first episode aired, FX got a phone call saying, “take us out of it.” Even though the whole season had already been shot and Budweiser didn’t really have a leg to stand on, FX still digitally replaced all the Budweiser signage with generic “Beer” signs. Because they had a much bigger relationship with Budweiser as an advertiser than one dinky show. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/55 "2022-10-03T00:41:24Z")
Not to mention Eskimo Nell. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105/56 "2022-10-04T12:45:26Z")
I don’t know. Nell came out of it looking pretty good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-unauthorized-product-placement-and-portrayal-of-real-people-in-fiction-legal/972105.md?page=2)