The saga of the face on the yoghurt container continues. It is also an interesting insight into the often convoluted path an image can take from the initial exposure to print, a path ripe for mishaps. The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet did some digging to find the whole story. Read article from Aftonbladet here (in Swedish).

According to Aftonbladet, the man in the picture is Greek and likes to dress in folk costume and pose for photographs by tourists. He says those pictures are only for private use, suggesting that he never signed a photo release. Apparently, this image is not new on the package, but has been used for 8 years. It took a Greek man living in Stockholm, who happened to spot the container and recognize his good friend from back home, to set the wheels in motion.

Back to how the image got to the yoghurt container. Somehow the photographer placed the image with the Spanish image bank AGE. They in turn bundled the image with a number of others. The stock photo agency IMS in turn sells that package to clients who use the images in their materials.

As a photographer, I am well aware of the need for model releases. As a stock photo user, I find that I have to trust the agency I purchase an image from, since they never supply a copy of any model release with the image I download or get on disc. Instead they will indicate in their terms that images are model released (If I don’t see that language in there, I will go elsewhere to buy a picture). I am not so sure that most clients understand the whole thing about model releases — they just know they want that image on their materials.

In the case at hand, it certainly appears that the dairy company acted in good faith. They purchased an image package and were led to believe that they had the rights to use the image. Somewhere along the line, the image of this man in a folk costume got labeled “Turk”.

So how do clients and designers protect themselves against this type of issues? The best solution (but not always practical) is to have images custom made. Then you can control the permissions and releases. Plus the image used on your materials/product, is not going to show up on something totally different next week.

The next best is to use a stock photo agency you trust and very carefully read through their terms. Do they warrant that the images they sell all are model released? If you have questions, ask before committing to a particular image.

In the case of the Greek man who didn’t want to be known as a Turk, the saga goes on and eventually the courts may have their say on it.

Claes

Link to BBC article about the now infamous yoghurt container

The yoghurt container (the man’s eyes have been hidden to protect his identity)

Here is a legal nightmare. Let’s say you have a dairy that makes yoghurt. Turkish yoghurt. Well, since you are not in Turkey we can discuss the “Turkish” part (maybe you got the recipe from your Great-Great-Grandmother who was from Istanbul). At any rate, the yoghurt is marketed as “Turkish yoghurt”. So you want a face on the packaging. Someone who looks Turkish. Alright, you go to a stock photo agency and do a search for “Turkish”. You find a picture, purchase it and stick it in your design. Your yoghurt goes out in the stores, the money rolls in, all is well.

Or not. Turns out the guy in the picture is really Greek. Now we all know what that means. He does not want to be labelled “Turk”. So he does the only reasonable thing. Well, that would be to call the photographer who took the picture of him and get the keywords at the stock agency changed.

OK, so he doesn’t do the only reasonable thing. Instead he calls his lawyer and sues the dairy for massive damages. 

Not making this one up. It really just happened in Sweden. The guy is suing the dairy for SEK50 million (about $7 million).

And if I was the dairy, I would now be going after the stock agency and the photographer. The man in the picture at some point signed a release, which should cover most uses. The end user (the dairy) purchased the image based on the representation from the stock agency (and possibly the photographer, depending on who assigned the key words).

I’ll be interested to see how this case works out. In the meantime, it serves as a reminder that those stock photo images are of real people and we as users of those images need to consider that to some extent, although I still have a hard time considering being on a container of Turkish yoghurt in Sweden to be defamatory.

Claes

Link to the Swedish news article on Sydsvenskan.se