They are a beloved of the PR folks. Every available opportunity that presents itself, there’s a snapper around- conveniently. Small wonder they’re known as photo-ops.
Pictures are powerful in enhancing an organizational or individual’s brand. They’re perceived as a testament of reality. Their currency is the power to condense volumes of impressions, feelings, locations, actions in one frame. Of course, you know the maxim a picture is worth a thousand words.
Yet, lately, these pictures, powerful as they may be, are also a peril- especially to the uninitiated.
This is because using pictures without consent can easily attract litigation.
Wrong Frame
Recently, the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) found itself on the wrong frame of the law when a court found it guilty of using someone’s pictures in an advertising without consent. The insurer was ordered to folk Sh 10 million to placate the complainants.
NHIF is not the alone. Nor is it the first, neither will it be the last in this legal arena.
In 2020, David Gicheru, a plumber, sued Brookside and Gicheha Farms Ltd for taking his picture and using it in the corporate calendar without his consent. Gicheru won the case. The court awarded him Sh 1.5 Million.
What can we learn from these two accounts? To begin with, most of our websites, magazines, newsletters, social media accounts, blogs, pamphlets calendars are a legal minefield. As PR people, we are always too self-absorbed to our organization’s spark forgetting about the nuances of privacy, dignity and the legal dynamics that protect individuals from such infringements.
That’s why, without any cares, we take random pictures of individuals and then splash them to showcase our work.
Going forward we may want to pause, ponder and do the following:
- Do not just publish pictures of people without their consent.
- Develop a consent form that explains to the subject about the photography, the purpose and that you want consent for using it.
- Be careful with internet images. Some of those pictures could be free but lacking in the necessary legal protection.
Remember the bigger and wealthier your organization is, the tempting it is for people to sue.
Never fool yourself that photos of altruistic gestures would go unchallenged. Human beings are complex and thankless.