Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LAYTON -- A Davis County woman said a picture of her daughters taken more than a decade ago suddenly appeared on a major advertising campaign.
Melinda Melow and her family were at the Utah State Fair about 12 years ago when a professional photographer approached her family, asking to take a picture of her twin daughters.
"He took a picture and said that I needed to sign something saying that he could use it for the advertisement for the Utah State Fair the following year," Melow said.
Melow gave the photographer permission to use the photo, but had no idea the picture could be sold all over the country. She thought the photo would be used once, however, the photo was used in a nationwide advertising campaign, which has been displayed at Wal-Mart stores all over the country.
"It was really shocking to see my kids' pictures up on a big advertisement," Melow said.
It's really flattering and they're cute. I'm glad that the picture was taken. I just would caution everyone to be aware that when your picture gets out there, anybody can use it.
–Melinda Melow
The photo of the twins appeared in an advertisement for the Sony Cybershot.
The twins, Katie and Melanie Stokes, said seeing their childhood image in a big way was surprising.
"I don't think that's really fair," said Melanie, "because if they're making money off of something, like, that's not even theirs."
Doing a quick search on the website tineye.com, where a scanned image can be connected to similar images on the web, a few images were found, including one used in a user's manual for an Olympus camera about six years ago.
"And what's weird is that camera didn't even take that picture," Katie said. "And they're advertising it like that was the one that took that picture."
Their mother said she wished she knew what she was getting into when she signed that piece of paper 12 years ago.
"It's really flattering and they're cute," Melinda Melow said. "I'm glad that the picture was taken. I just would caution everyone to be aware that when your picture gets out there, anybody can use it."
Melow said the family hired a lawyer at one point, who told them there is nothing they can do and they don't have to be paid for the use of their photograph.
Email: manderson@ksl.com
