[imagesource: PixaHive]

Unfortunately for stock models, once their image is taken and released, publications and advertisers can buy them and use them however they see fit.

Sometimes that means being the nonconsensual, unintended face of stigma, disease, and embarrassing problems.

Last week, Twitter user Abigail Johnson brought the perils of stock modelling to everyone’s attention by sharing a stock photograph that she modelled for being used as the header image for an unlikely, and unflattering article.

The Guardian had used her face to talk about a rather awkward topic, prompting Abigail to warn models against ever doing stock images:

NEVER do stock image modeling, just don’t do it. https://t.co/OmRfoGlhvo

— ⬆️ Mickey Mouse Cuck (@abigail1963) November 10, 2022

PetaPixel notes that Johnson’s tweet gathered well over 400 000 likes and thousands of comments, gaining more traction and attention than the original article in The Guardian.

A bunch of other stock photo models and onlookers chimed in with their unfortunate representations and impressions:

it could be worse, far worsehttps://t.co/yIYWQstH6t

— Christoph Breuer (@chribreuer) November 11, 2022

I see your stock image article and I raise you mine.😬 pic.twitter.com/VRgdd8r7PY

— Florian Sachisthal (@FSachisthal) November 11, 2022

This is my favourite!@marleybennett pic.twitter.com/TOUYTmOM2m

— S M (@onceoffac) November 11, 2022

pic.twitter.com/Z1YRgm67Jl

— hadley (@enjoySexnap) November 10, 2022

This quite LITERALLY happened to me pic.twitter.com/axGayUMMRT

— Kaptain Kunta Kinte (@GODIsMy_LORD) November 11, 2022

reminds me of this (also there’s another one with a guy posing next to a photo of himself in a psa about spreading STDs but i do NOT want those keywords anywhere NEAR my image search) pic.twitter.com/tfuCMsDqf9

— jess (@mistortewdee) November 11, 2022

A few people even started unpacking the ethical responsibilities of stock photography companies:

A Twitter user argued that models should get a say about their photographs were used: “To me, stock image models should definitely retain some rights to their images.”

Meanwhile, another individual criticized the usage of stock photos in general. The user writes, “stock photos are unethical and just lazy. Every photo should have a clear caption.”

Anyway, stock portraits are now being generated by artificial intelligence (AI), so actual people won’t be smoted any further.

[source:petapixel]