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posted by janrinok on Friday August 05 2022, @11:52AM   Printer-friendly
from the has-anyone-seen-my-face? dept.

Who owns the rights to your face?:

Last year, I received an Instagram DM from someone I was friends with in college. It had been a couple years since we'd caught up: We lived in different cities, had pursued different careers and, of course, the pandemic had brought any plans of hanging out again to a standstill. I was surprised to see her name pop up on my screen but even more so by the contents of her message.

It was my face. Specifically, it was me in a sponsored Instagram Story ad, putting on a lip balm. In the video, I applied the balm and smiled at the camera, looking pleased with my newly moisturized lips. In real life, I was confused. I had never agreed to appear in a nationwide social campaign, otherwise my checking account would have a couple more zeroes to show for it. I worked in the media industry then, sourcing the right influencers to participate in sponsored articles. I've spent years casting with talent, negotiating contracts to ensure fair compensation and modest usage rights for influencers, models, and real people. Based on my experience, it was clear that my image was being exploited by a multibillion dollar brand.

Usage rights dictate who owns an image or asset, exactly how, where it's allowed to appear, and for how long: A video is pricier than a photo, one month costs more than one year, and you'd charge a global brand much more than what you'd charge a growing business. Depending on the talent, the scale of the client, and the length of the campaign, standard licensing of images on social media alone can cost anywhere from $250 to $20,000.

Despite this, anyone who has worked at a media company will tell you that employees are often pressured to serve as a stand-in or supplement to these influencers. However, these campaigns are not a part of the full-time job and likely go uncompensated.

[...] Generally speaking, we hold the copyright to any content we upload to social media platforms. However, when we create our accounts, we agree to grant those platforms a free license to use our content as they wish. Twitter's recent ad campaigns are a perfect example: the everyday thoughts of regular people are what fuel the platform, and the decision to feature those tweets in marketing has been widely applauded. But as a Twitter user myself, spotting my own words on the train ride home would feel great, until I remember that one month of subway ads can cost up to $75,000. But, based on the terms and conditions I agreed to, none of that money has to make its way to me.

Our content is even more valuable to brands, who are slowly narrowing in on the average social media user. Where large companies were once funneling most of their influencer marketing budget into one or two macro influencers with 500,000 followers or more, companies like HelloFresh and Canon are now prioritizing the niche audiences of micro- and nano-creators. Research shows that shoppers find smaller creators "more authentic" and brands have identified those creators as "less costly," making regular people a win-win for boosting sales.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by MIRV888 on Friday August 05 2022, @02:53PM (3 children)

    by MIRV888 (11376) on Friday August 05 2022, @02:53PM (#1265108)

    If you put it out there, it can be used. Legally or not.
    I miss anonymity.

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Barenflimski on Friday August 05 2022, @03:49PM (2 children)

    by Barenflimski (6836) on Friday August 05 2022, @03:49PM (#1265121)

    I used to ask people to not post my pictures on Facebook. It quickly became so tedious for everyone that my choice was to either never hang out with anyone, or quit bitching. Facebook and the like, won.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Friday August 05 2022, @04:17PM

      by PiMuNu (3823) on Friday August 05 2022, @04:17PM (#1265126)

      Remember - friendface is a virus

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday August 06 2022, @05:12AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 06 2022, @05:12AM (#1265223) Journal

      There's still not a picture of mine on the internets; at least not one that Google image search knows about, I just checked.

      I created a FB account a good while ago (to avoid squatting) and didn't answer any of the invitations from my friends and acquaintances to... whatever FB calls "follow" or something; if they tried, I emailed them with apologies and told them that they may use phone, Skype or email if they are interested in staying in touch.

      One on top of the others, I still have a handful of friends I keep in touch. And I don't feel like going out of my ways to make more of them.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford