The use of stock photography by marketers isn’t anything new. Microsoft knows all about it, and the troubles it can get you into. But what happens when the thing you’re trying to market hinges on showing that actual people support your cause? The folks at Stand for Marriage Maine wouldn’t know anything about that, since they can’t find supporters willing to show their faces on a discrimination website. That, or maybe they don’t have the cash for a photo shoot?
Maybe that explains why StandForMarriageMaine.com uses stock photos of families from an online pictures store where anyone can purchase the pictures.
That’s not to say S4MM doesn’t have people willing to publicly support their cause. After all, they got that Boston College professor to do so. And who’s to say S4MM didn’t just let a freelance web designer choose the images? Using web-friendly photos doesn’t necessary mean a hate group doesn’t have backers.
But it stands in stark contract to Protect Maine Equality’s web and media efforts, which use real families who have proudly joined the No On 1 marketing effort.
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Where, one must wonder, are all these Mainers who want to strip away their neighbors’ marriage rights? So far, the “real people” S4MM uses are actually recycled anti-gay parents already used in California’s Prop 8 fight. Like their argument, their media strategy is tired.
SFNative
Did you mean to say Yes on 1 in the title? If not, I wonder if the message in the title is a bit confusing to clearly get.
alan brickman
Pretty sad…