Can advertisers use dead people however they wish

kirk. · 06-11-2022 10:28PM #1

There's adverts running in the UK featuring Albert Einstein promoting smart meters

Can they just do this I'm sure he'd turn in his grave the words they're putting in his mouth

L1011 · 06-11-2022 10:30PM

No, they will be paying his estate to do that.

Jim_Hodge · 06-11-2022 10:32PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058270736/can-advertisers-use-dead-people-however-they-wish

All those adverts have a note at the bottom of the screen regarding the right to use the image.

Gregor Samsa · 06-11-2022 10:42PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119842859#Comment_119842859

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (in Israel) actually owns the rights to Einstein's image. He left it to them in his will.

And in 2012, they lost a case against General Motors for this ad that featured his likeness without authorisation:

https://www.cnbc.com/id/100186915

kirk. · 06-11-2022 10:47PM

Well that's the thing isn't it

Using a likeness hard one to stop

EmmetSpiceland · 06-11-2022 10:49PM

You've got poor old Vincent Price floating around in a toilet keg telling me about the horrors of an unfresh bowl!

L1011 · 06-11-2022 10:52PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119842919#Comment_119842919

US laws on this sort of thing are incredibly weak compared to here.

kirk. · 06-11-2022 10:56PM

It just seems ridiculous having him promoting this stuff

He'd have an opinion of his his own on the matter which would probably be contrary to what he's saying

Quantum Erasure · 07-11-2022 10:30AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058270736/can-advertisers-use-dead-people-however-they-wish

Spinning in his grave...

Connect a few wires and magnets and you've got free electricity, and probably broken a few of his equations, making him spin faster...

bnt · 08-11-2022 12:05AM

I remember the Estate of Fred Astaire threatened the band James when they made a song called “Fred Astaire”. Changing the title to “(Just Like) Fred Astaire” was sufficient to keep the Estate happy.

Capt'n Midnight · 08-11-2022 12:47AM

The selling of cadavers is for the most part unregulated by US law.

Bodies donated for medical research have been sold to the US Army and blown up to measure the effect of explosives. ... A special investigation by Reuters brought to light the figure of $5,893 (USD) was paid for each body, roughly £4,800 GBP. ..BRC sold over 20,000 body parts from 5000 persons over a decade.

So yes advertisers can use some dead people how they wish.

Quantum Erasure · 08-11-2022 01:13AM

Wouldn't you hate to donate your body to science, only to have it blown up on a US firing range, I'd rather have it left outside to rot under various conditions so the CSI lads could extrapolate time of death

Can advertisers use dead people however they wish

Comments

The selling of cadavers is for the most part unregulated by US law.