Those Obamas are everywhere. Whether they like it or not. This time around, it’s the President, himself, appearing, without consent, on a Times Square billboard for the garment company Weatherproof. It’s an image of the President wearing one of the company’s coats when he was standing on the Great Wall of China.
Weatherproof President Freddie Stollmack, who recognized the coat, told the New York Times, “With a magnifying glass, we saw our logo and zipper pull, and we said, ‘That’s our coat,'”
The image was properly licensed from the Associated Press but Weatherproof failed to obtain necessary permissions from The White House, which has a policy against using the President’s image for commercial purposes, for use of the President’s image.
The billboard stunt followed a press release in December which touted Watherprrof’s glee over President Obama’s selection of Weatherproof attire.
The comapny also tried to place the ad in print publications as well but was turned down.
And yes, the entire point of this stut was to garner the brand publicity. And they are certainly succeeding.
