A man on TikTok is going viral after saying Sketchers used his image in one of their sneaker ads without ever asking him. 

Justin Starling (@justusraps), an artist and songwriter, says he was in New York when someone reached out to tell him they’d spotted him in a Sketchers display. Curious if that was actually true, he went to check it out himself.

“I pull up to the Sketchers store, what do I see?” he asked.

Inside, he found a photo of himself modeling the brand’s shoes—except, according to Starling, he never agreed to appear in any Sketchers campaign. 

“I didn’t authorize this,” he said.

He then pulled up the original image for viewers. Starling explained that he posted the photo to Instagram back in 2021 and that he was wearing a completely different brand. 

“They Photoshopped the Forces out and put some Sketchers on,” he said, adding that the company never contacted him or paid him for using his face in the ad.

“Can Sketchers do this legally?” he asked in the caption and text overlay of his video. As of Friday, his clip had pulled in more than 59,200 views.

Can a brand use my photo without first getting permission?

According to Landry Legal, a brand can’t just grab someone’s photo and use it in an ad without first checking with the subject. 

When a company uses your likeness to sell something, that usually triggers your right of publicity, it notes. Your face, your name, and your likeness all have value, and the law gives you control over how they’re used.

Most states treat the unauthorized use of someone’s likeness as a clear violation. It can also cross into the realm of invasion of privacy. And if you were the one who took the picture, you likely own the copyright unless you signed it away, which gives you another layer of protection. 

Even when you’re simply the subject of the photo, you still get a say in how your image is used for commercial gain.

@justusraps

Can Skechers do this legally?

♬ original sound – Justin Starling

If you ever discover a brand using your photo without asking, the first step is to document everything. After that, reach out to the company directly and tell them they’re using your image without permission. You can ask them to take it down or start a conversation about compensation.

If they ignore you, it may be time to talk to a lawyer who handles publicity or intellectual-property cases to figure out what comes next.

There are a few situations where a brand may not need permission, such as when the photo is used in a newsworthy context or in a documentary. You may also have signed a release at an event without realizing it, which gives organizers greater freedom to use images from that day. And some photos fall into the public domain, which means anyone can use them. But outside those narrow exceptions, companies need your permission before they can turn your likeness into an ad.

Commenters push the creator toward legal help

Viewers who came across Starling’s video quickly jumped into amateur legal mode, trying to suss out who actually controlled the original image and whether he might have unknowingly signed away his rights.

One woman wondered aloud, “Who owned the rights to the original photo? If you sold it to an agency or a photographer or if they had you sign a media release, then you probably don’t have a claim. But if they stole it from your Instagram and did it, then you would have a claim.”

Others echoed the same line of questioning. 

“Question? Who owns that photo? Did you take it?” another asked. 

A third chimed in, “If a photographer shot the photo, they might have sold it, and you might not have a claim.”

Someone else added, “Guess it depends on what you signed during the original shoot.”

But plenty of people skipped the nuance and went straight to urging Starling to get professional help. 

“Lawyer up immediately,” one woman advised. 

Another pushed him to think big, saying, “250k-500k bro. Reach out to a good lawyer and slide.”

The calls kept going from there. “Time to sue,” a third person said.

Someone else told him, “Get a lawyer, rnnnnnnn.”

The Daily Dot has reached out to Starling for more information through TikTok.

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The post “I didn’t authorize this”: Man spots a photo of himself wearing different shoes in a Sketchers store window appeared first on The Daily Dot.

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