Can you use a celebrity’s photo without their permission?

Last Wednesday, a larger-than-life President Barack Obama became a presidential pitchman on a Times Square billboard that used his photo without permission.

Outerwear company, Weatherproof, used a recent news photo of the president in front of the Great Wall in Badaling, China, wearing one of their coats for their advertisement, with the tagline "A Leader In Style." This rose questions of the need for celebrity permission.

The photo was taken by Charles Dharapak of The Associated Press and the company purchased the right to use it from AP Images, the news gathering organization's commercial photo arm. The AP agreement with Weatherproof required the company to seek any necessary clearances, said a spokesman for The AP. However, Weatherproof did not seek permission from the White House, nor does it believe it was necessary to do so since the billboard does not say Obama endorses the product.

At the same time, animal-rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, recently debuted a new ad campaign featuring Michelle Obama, and also did not ask for the first lady's consent. Those ads are appearing in Washington's Metro stations, magazines and PETA's Web site.

The way I look at it, the ad has potential to be effective with consumers because the president and first lady both carry considerable fashion credibility. However, it's a risk because passers-by may get so caught up with the image and not notice the brand name. Overall, I disagree with the usage of the photo, but think the ad/marketing idea is brilliant. Right now there are no strict laws or punishment against the use of the photo and besides the press it's getting from the ad placement, it's getting a whole lot more by this debate's media coverage.