Two different friends and my dad called me tonight to tell me that my family was in a TV commercial. One even sent me a picture and it's clearly me, my wife, and two of our children looking at an RV. No one else is in the picture. Apparently, while we were at a local RV show last fall someome took a picture of us and the picture wound up in a commercial. At first, I was laughing. Then I was wondering if that's legal. The kids were 6 and 8 years old then.

What do the sigforum legal minds think?

I say not a big deal. Move on.

ETA: I'm not "legal mind".

Investigate your state law and whether you waived rights with ticket purchase or entry to event.

It was a free RV show. No tickets were involved and as far as I can remember, we didn't sign anything when we walked in. Here is the picture of the TV my friend sent me:



Keep in mind it's a picture of a picture, so that's two cameras which adds 20 pounds not 10, right?

What harm could possibly come of it? Enjoy being famous for those 15 seconds and then forget it ever happened.

Duuuude!!! You won that sweeet RV trailer on Wheel of Fortune??? Awesome!!!

You're the MAN!!!!

I wouldn't pursue this too far (but I only took Business Law as an undergraduate)...

But, I will admit that your "friend" appears to have a nice camera, if that's the pic he took off a TV.

Your daughter is the only one looking at the camera. She's photogenic, from what I can tell. Did you buy the fifth wheel?

I would be proud of my few minutes of fame. Does not sound malicious. I would think the other kids at school would be impressed. What do your work buddies think? I guess the big question here is How does Momma feel about this. If she is ok then I would not be concerned.

I don't recall all the official legal speak, but essentially if you are in public, images can be taken and used without permission in most cases.

If it is used for profit or gain (such as an RV advertisement) model release would normally be required *if* you are clearly identifiable.

In the screenshot, three of the people's backs are turned, so the only possibility of someone being identifiable would be your daughter. Hard to tell from screenshot, but not exactly a clear picture of her so even that could be arguable.

If it bothers you you could certainly ask the company to cease and desist based on no model release.

You were watching Wheel of Fortune?

This used to happen to me in china occasionally.

Call 911

Something similar happened to me several years back. The NRA show was being hosted here in Charlotte, and I went to check things out along with several thousand of my closest friends.

One of the booths I stopped at was the Thompson Center booth. TC was (or maybe still is, I don't know) a sponsor of "Mr. whitetail", Larry Weishuhn. I had the opportunity to speak to Larry for about 5 minutes one on one, talking about handgun hunting among other things. When I was finished, I asked him if I could get a photo taken with him. Being the nice guy he is, he agreed and I asked someone standing nearby if they wouldn't mind taking the picture for me. While they are taking the picture, I notice out of the corner of my eye a guy with a video camera, but don't really think much of it and toss it to the back of my mind.

Fast forward 6 months later or so, I'm watching some hunting shows on the Versus network, and during an episode of Whitetail Revolution, a show hosted by Larry, there is a quick segment about Larry attending conventions and trade shows, and they're talking about how he enjoys meeting his fans. Well, while the narrator is blabbing on, i see a guy talking to Larry who looks an awful lot like me. And he's wearing a shirt just like one I have. Hey, that is me!

Apparently the guy I saw with the video camera worked for Larry's TV show, and they were filming footage to use for it. I didn't see anything wrong with it at the time, in fact I kept it on my DVR up until the day I gave it back to Time Warner just so I could show it to friends and family when they came to visit. Of course, unlike you, my kids weren't in the video. That may have changed how I had felt about it.

At least you and your wife weren't *testing* the mattresses at Sears when you thought no one was looking.

Hate it when that happens.

No, I wasn't watching Wheel of Fortune. My friends and parents were and one of my friends snapped the picture with her iPhone.

I think tbe whole thing is funny and really don't care. My oldest son was disappointed that he wasn't in it. Turns out the skinny one is standing on my right. I found last year's commercial on you tube (sorry, embedding video isn't something I've figured out yet):

https://youtu.be/EYOkhkhJGeY

Don't blink in the first two seconds. I'm amazed people recognized us it happens so fast. Also, it obviously wasn't the show I was thinking it was where the video was take, but rather one we went to two years ago.

No, we didn't buy that fifth wheel. We didn't even have an RV, yet; we were just "looking". Fast forward to today and we have traded the travel trailer in on a fifth wheel toy hauler and camped about three dozen times, in ten different states, about six weeks in aggregate.

You have no expectation of Privacy outside of your home..and then you are only protected from the government.

The issue is there was no release to use your child's photo in a commercial.

Personally, I'd let it ride.

If it sticks in your craw, call the dealer and ask him to stop displaying it because they did not get a release from you for them to put your child on TV.

My son was watching a clip from the SHOT Show on an outdoors TV show, when he saw his father (me) walk into the frame.
60,000 people attend the show and he sees his dad .

Sounds to me like use of your images is worth a few $k off that RV in lieu of no lawsuit...

I'd guess they did nothing wrong. You were in public when the photos were taken. As someone said, you aren't recognizable.

But even assuming it is wrongful; what harm is this? I don't think you have been damaged in any way.

I'd guess if you complained, they might pull the ad. Or maybe not.

Don't give it another thought.

Eh no biggie. A year or so ago I discovered a photoshop pic of my wife at a cathedral in Mexico that a travel website was using. Asked for it to be removed and it was immediately.