Mr. Berry was a struggling young actor several years ago when he accepted $500 to pose for some photographs in a Manhattan studio. He had not given those pictures much thought until Friday night, when a friend alerted him that his image — minus one leg — was all over the Internet. An advertising agency for the city’s health department obtained the rights to use the photo to illustrate its campaign — shown throughout the subway system — against supersize portions of fast food and sugary sodas.
To emphasize that consuming too much of those foods could lead to diabetes and the amputation of limbs, the agency edited away the lower half of Mr. Berry’s right leg and conjured up a pair of crutches. “I was beyond shocked,” Mr. Berry said, recounting his reaction to seeing himself portrayed as ailing and crippled. “I cried at my computer screen for, like, a minute.” Then, after studying the ad more closely, “I said: ‘Oh my gosh, they even gave me crutches. Come on, people.’ ”
Mr. Berry, 27, said he supported the city’s efforts to educate people about the dangers of diabetes, but he said he disagreed with the use of a manipulated image of an able-bodied person, instead of an image of a real victim of the disease. Although only the bottom of his face is shown in the ads, Mr. Berry said he was immediately concerned about the effect this depiction could have on his career as an actor. “I’ve always wanted my photo in an ad all over the city, but I was hoping it would be for a TV show or something, not — this,” Mr. Berry said.
5 comments:
I'd think the addition of crutches was a nice touch... after all, without them he'd fall over off his photoshopped stump...
Why didn't the photographer just use actual amputees for the shoot?
As for the actor, I can imagine that being in the well known ad coupled with this interview afterwards will only help him. As they say any publicity is good publicity.
The photo shoot wasn't for any particular ad campaign; they were just done to add to the photographer's collection of stock photos. The photographer owns the image, and can sell or license it to whomever he chooses; the image can be altered as necessary, as in this case. Mr. Berry has no say in or control over the image's use. I'm surprised he never thought of this possibility when he posed for the photo. He should be glad he didn't end up the star of a herpes awareness campaign!
Those crutches !
Support that weight ?
Yeah, sure....and the pips in a watermelon are actually alien spawn.
@Jeff I don't know about the rest of the world but in the UK a photographer can't legally sell an image of a model unless the model has signed a release form stating that they can. Smart models carry their own release forms which limit the purposes for which the image can be used and these generally preclude such things a major retouching.
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