Hal Holbrook's image erroneously used in "Abuse in the Boy Scouts" class-action ad

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/04/hal-holbrooks-image-erroneou.html

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This will beget lawsuits within lawsuits. It’s lawsuits all the way down!

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Why use any photo at all unless it’s someone known to be an actual abuser?

For that matter, did the law firm get permission from these scouts or their legal guardians to use their images in this way?

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Well, he did play Deep Throat. Whose real name, come to think of it, was Mark Felt.

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Yes, this is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Oh, wait.

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Poor Hal! The man who brought Mark Twain to life again doesn’t deserve this.

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I’m thinking that the tagline “it’s not too late” is in reference to photo of
"the old man who was abused as a Boy Scout" and that is the audience for the ad.

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A friend of mine suggested an AI-generated image would have been best.

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There are a lot of visual options they could have gone with. They could have just used an illustration or an anonymous silhouette or some symbolic non-figurative representation, or even just some scouts pictured from behind so they wouldn’t be so easily identifiable. You can imply the horror of sexual abuse without showing the faces of the perpetrators or the victims.

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Probably the SEO scumbags that the lawyers hired to make the ads. There was a similar thing a few years ago when they used the image of the Republican Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer as the model for a “jilted wife” in a makeover scam ad. One of which was actually cropped from a Reuters still. I hope Mr. Holbrooke’s estate sues the shit out of them.

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They should get sued for using that font as well.

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I really doubt the boy scouts pictured were abuse victims either…they probably should not be using anyone’s picture in these.

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I think that making an old style paint with acrylic and addig the text could have been a sensible idea.

For more information please reread.

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Gods, how I adore Scarfolk Council and all forms of Hauntology!

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Maybe some Scouts got abused when their troop attended a Mark Twain reenactment.

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