BNP Stock Photography
This popped through my door.
Stock Photography Misuse
Freedom of speech is a great thing and they have every right to post flyers through my door.
However, as a graphic designer I can’t help but play the game of ‘They’re not real people, I wonder where they got the stock image from’. It’s a good game and keeps me quiet for ages.
And they even have a Polish Spitfire…. Check out this site for more details >
The Irish Guardsman is taken from Fotosearch
This isn’t even a stock site – they nicked it… This comes from the Daily Mail and is labeled as ‘file picture’, which you would assume means they own the usage rights. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-503126/165-000-asylum-seekers-amnesty-Home-Office-blunder-files.html
Now, we can safely assume none of these models said the words that they have reported to have said by the flyer designer. Begs a question. Is this a violation of iStock rules and if so, what are they going to do about it? Also, with their history of support for the Fascists, the Daily Mail image is no real surprise and despite contacting them, I have found no indication they contacted the BNP to ask them to not use their images.
Putting the somewhat unsavoury nature of the content to one side for one moment, it does highlight another issue for designers. We are often asked to ‘invent’ testimonials for projects. With better reverse image searches now available we need to make sure these are as unique as possible. If a client is asking for a testimonial, then it is best to ask them to at least provide the image to be used. This could be a real customer or just someone from the workforce.