Picture That

Can they do that?

In two days I read about two separate instances of the President and First Lady’s images being used for advertising – without their permission. First PETA uses Photoshop to put Mrs. Obama in an ad, and then Weatherproof finds a photo of President Obama on the Great Wall of China (that’s “President”, NYT, not “Mr.”) and they blow it up and throw it up on a billboard in Manhattan – 41st and 7th Ave.

According to the Associated Press, the coat company paid them for use of the image, but it was up to the licensing party (in this case, Weatherproof) to obtain the necessary clearances. So here we go passing the buck. Associated Press says, “we thought you were gonna do it!” Weatherproof says, “Huh? We bought it from you; we thought you were gonna do it!” Meanwhile a larger than life President Obama is endorsing this press-mongering coat company against his will. (Sure, he looks dashing, but that’s not the point.) Not to mention, for a short time Weatherproof marketed the coat on their website as “the Obama jacket.”

One thing I can say for Weatherproof, at least they used an less familiar image where Obama is actually wearing their merchandise, and not an oft-seen, official press photo. Hello, PETA? Are you listening? The photo of Sister First Lady in her sleeveless, black shift dress with a double string of pearls has been everywhere! Not to mention in the PETA ad she is the one woman standing completely face forward. Were you trying to get caught, PETA?

I know it’s been a long time since the nation has had such a young, vibrant and attractive first family, but this feels really irreverent to me. What’s next? Somebody takes photos of Sasha and Malia and puts their faces on a box of cereal? Sure, the Obamas want to be/appear accessible and of the people, but respect the office and personal privacy. Plus, they seem cool enough – you probably could’ve just asked.