EXPOSED: Stock Photography Models

Online posers, are secretly slinking within the underbelly of today’s graphic design profession.

This morning, I received an invitation to join the American Association of Retired People. 

I am sorry, but with the shape of American business today, despite me being a (young) half century old, retirement is not an option—at least for the future. Stop teasing me!

To make things worse, following a little digging and fact-checking, I found that the pleasant looking middle-aged male featured on the e-mail invitation was a– (long pause) stock photography model.

This hired mercenary has exceeded in making a career out of playing a two-dimensional mannequin. One minute, he is hawking AARP memberships, the next minute he is pushing anti-itch cream, sparkling chardonnay, or a new retirement community. 

To the casual observer, this meat puppet (we’ll call him Bob), may induce memories of a close friend or acquaintances. “Wait, I think that I know this person.”  How about, “He looks just like me, and if he has decided to buy used reconditioned bungie-jumping equipment, why can’t I?”

Consumers, wake up! Bob is a fraud! He is leading a highly questionable lifestyle–under a multitude of identities. One minute he is stock photo 1657611 “close-up of a happy age man,” and the next minute– stock photo 1559302 “close-up of the senior business man with his colleagues standing in a line behind him.”

For us, we must seek the truth in advertising and marketing. For Bob, it must be tough to go through life as something between a coat rack and a plant stand. – Doug.