First PETA exploits Michelle Obama’s image and likeness — sans consent of the White House — for an anti-fur campaign, now Weatherproof Garment Company has followed suit with President Obama. The president is featured in an eye-catching ad in New York’s Times Square, shown in the rugged outdoors wearing one of the company’s coats.
The image originated with the Associated Press (Charles Dharapak, photographer) and Weatherproof lawfully purchased rights to use the image. The White House, however, says their authority over such actions regarding use of a sitting president’s name and likeness for commercial purposes is being usurped.
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Weatherproof president Freddie Stollmack first saw the photo in a newspaper while Obama was on his trip to China in November. He thought the coat looked familiar, so he got out a magnifying glass and found the brand’s logo.
“He didn’t come to us. It’s just a great looking jacket on a great looking president,” Stollmack said in a statement. He has no intentions of taking the ad down.
The president and first lady are both celebrated for their refreshing sense of style, but the notion seems to give license to trivialization of the highest office in the land. The New York Times, the New York Post and Women’s Wear Daily rejected a similar ad for their newspapers.
–gerald radford
