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Something that can get you into a lot of trouble is running an ad containing a picture of a person who didn't give you permission to use their image.

For example, many years ago one of my accounts, a hair salon, gave me a picture of Joan Collins that the advertiser had cut out of a magazine. For those of you under the age of thirty, at the time Ms. Collins had been starring in the then-popular television show Dynasty.

The advertiser simply wanted to show that she could duplicate that hairstyle. Let's forget for a minute that using artwork cut out of a magazine doesn't provide the best reproduction, since it's already in a dot pattern.

The problem was that Joan Collins didn't give this hair stylist permission to use her face in the ad. Now, the odds were pretty slim that Joan Collins would ever see the ad, but let me give you another example.

It's very common to have people walk into a newspaper to place a "happy birthday" ad for a family member or friend. On one such occasion, I helped a woman who walked in with a picture of her husband and together we sketched out a small ad with the headline "Lordy lordy, look who's forty."

On the day that the ad ran, the husband, or as I found out, the ex-husband, called the newspaper and was extremely upset. It turned out that he was having serious trouble dealing with the fact that he was turning 40. The ex-husband could have easily sued the newspaper (and his ex-wife) for publishing his picture in an ad without his permission. Lucky for me he didn't and I kept my job.

What's needed in a case like this is a model release form. Your publication probably has pads of them around, and it must be signed by the person in the picture or, if they're underage, the guardian. Again, check with your manager on this. An exception to this rule might be when the photos of people are taken from a manufacturer's promotional piece whose products the advertiser sells. Check with your manager if you're in doubt.

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