Apparently, now you can catch yourself in a random advertorial saying a silly quote about a product, you never even use!

An advertorial is an advertisement written in the form of an objective opinion editorial, and presented in a printed publication — usually designed to look like a legitimate and independent news story.

So a couple of my friends spotted their own pictures in one of the more ‘hip’ magazines in Egypt, ‘Campus’. Their pictures accompanied quotes about the new music edition of the sony ericsson mobile phone.
Silly things like “I can’t imagine traveling without it” and “It really reflects what i’m all about” where not only a matter of libel, it was offensive libel, considering that
a) they never said that
b) they never agreed to advertise for sony ericsson or even asked to!
c) they don’t even own a sony ericsson!
d) it’s just lame!

So how did it happen? My guess is facebook! apparently, with the whole “i certify my right to distribute...”, your picture can end up anywhere, saying anything, and you might not even find out! I mean seeing the picture there, and reading the incredibly small fonted quote was just a lucky coincidence.

Now you wonder, what do you do about this? Do you try to reach whoever wrote it? Do you sew the magazine? Do you sew Sony Ericsson? Can you even sew anybody? and will you manage to sew at all in Egypt? It’s never so easy to head to court in this country, for ANYTHING.

I wonder if this can become something big..I don’t know much about law, but I do know that with a company like Sony Ericsson, I reserve the right to some money off the advertisement! By rule, an advertorial’s content is revised by the client. So i can’t only blame the magazine...and even if this one wasn’t revised, I will blame the magazine! They got money off the ad too!

Then you wonder some more, what about the whole Facebook thing? Is my right to distribute going to pose a loophole? will this thing be about Facebook at all? Why does it always go back to Facebook!

Fine, let them place my picture, but can they say I said something I didn’t actually say? Can I become the face of a product and I don’t even know it or let alone agree to it? Can I end up saying things and never find out about it?

Note: Would be AWESOME though if we can actually sew Sony Ericsson! Make TONNES of money...and maybe get free Sony Ericsson products for the rest of our lives!
I’m getting carried away!