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AN IMAGE USED by pro-life campaigners Youth Defence is being investigated to determine whether it breached the license agreement of the company from which it was purchased.
This was revealed after images on their site were found to have been altered to include a required disclaimer which was missing from their recent campaign, which included billboards, leaflets and bus and Luas ads.
iStockPhoto - which sells stock images for third party use – state that any images used should be “accompanied by a statement that indicates that the Content is being used for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted in the Content is a model” where it:
depicts such person in a potentially sensitive subject matter, including, but not limited to mental and physical health issues, social issues, sexual or implied sexual activity or preferences, substance abuse, crime, physical or mental abuse or ailments
In the case of the image in question, it appears alongside the caption “Abortion Tears Her Life Apart.”
(Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)
When contacted by TheJournal.ie on Wednesday, the campaign director for Youth Defence, Íde Nic Mhathúna, stated that they had a long-standing relationship with the company and that “the matter has been closed”.
She said that talk of wrongdoing was “not a revelation,” saying that the recent post on the blog red lemonade about the issue was a case of someone trying “desperately to dig up information” when nothing new existed.
She then went on to say that iStockPhoto was aware of the anti-abortion campaign and that the “images will be used in our campaign again.”
Internal investigation
An investigation by TheJournal.ie found that the images on Youth Defence’s website give the impression that they are in compliance with the company’s rules, with both the billboard and bus ad containing the disclaimer “PIC POSED BY MODEL.”
Images of the same billboard – identifiable by the billboard number on the top left – found elsewhere on the web (here and here) show no such disclaimer, however. Other photographs of the ad, as seen here and in the image above do not carry the required disclaimer either.
When TheJournal.ie contacted the Compliance Enforcement department within iStockPhoto with this information, we were put in contact with a Kylie Taylor from Getty Images, who stated:
Rights and compliance is of the utmost importance to iStockphoto and we are investigating this internally. While we cannot comment on current investigations, we can confirm that how a client chooses to incorporate an image into their communication is of their decision, provided they are in compliance with the license agreement.
In our attempts to identify the billboard in question, advertisers JCDecaux confirmed that the reference number corresponded to a billboard in Belfast which no longer exists, having been removed approximately 12 months ago.
When TheJournal.ie contacted Íde Nic Mhathúna again yesterday with our findings, she stated that the campaign billboards are between cycles and that “there are no billboards up at present.”
When asked how the image of a uniquely identifiable billboard that appears on Youth Defence’s site contains a disclaimer while other images of the same billboard do not, she stated that this image was representative of “any future advertisements,” before confirming that none of the materials that Youth Defence had used in their campaign up until this point bore this disclaimer.
When further questioned as to how a billboard which existed in Belfast before being ripped down 12 months ago contained an anti-abortion image from a campaign which only started in June and was limited to the Republic of Ireland, Nic Mhathúna responded that the image was a “mock-up” and that it was “used for market research”.
In response to the statement from Getty Images that they were “investigating this internally,” she said that “as far as we’re concerned the matter is closed,” while stating that she did not believe it to be anyone else’s business other than that of Youth Defence and iStockPhoto.
Now all we need is the GP’s
Must be an election looming.
@B1Chris: Damned if they do, and if they don’t
@SF Means Sh!t 4 Free: Along with a free house to go back to with free electricity and gas and a collection of money trees in the back garden. Those pesky earners over 100k can pay for it.
@B1Chris: why? Expansion of medical cards has been an ongoing policy, personally I’d prefer to see a nominal charge than have it for free.
@SF Means Sh!t 4 Free: FFG certainly are in a giving away mode as the election draws closer. The money tree FFG/ Greens stated didn’t exist suddenly appeared…The borrowing of Money that FFG / Greens stated would be imprudent suddenly went out the window…On top of the € 60 Billions still owed by the Irish people Seems FFG/ Greens are in panic mode… It was not so long ago the Blueshirt/ So called Labour tried to take back medical cards from the most vulnerable …Seem to remember it was connected to the austerity that was to repay for the gangsterism of the banks and developers facilated by FF/ Greens..Funny old world when the pox and the Plague plus the Greens now try to save themselves..Hypocrisy at it’s best
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@Jason Memail: If you move to many counties in Ireland you can’t even register for a GP, they are not taking anymore patients, so what is the point of extending the scheme until they fix the number of GP’s there are available?
One of the greatest bluffers of all time is this guy. Woeful.
@Chris Finch: back in the real world, he’s been one of most effective Ministers for Health in decades.
@Oisin CK: head on in to UHL and spin that tune to those dying on trolleys and their families. No hope, no dignity. That’s the real world my friend.
@Oisin CK: Ohhh ye deluded tool. Vote the MUPPET back in again to our detriment jayus.
@Chris Finch: Regular contributor on here, “The Risen”, called Stephen Donnelly “The best TD in the Dáil”.
What exactly is the income limit? This is a key element missing from the article
Good to know children after 8 years of age don’t get sick.
@Michaela Coelho: anyone can apply for the medical card or gp card. Its means tested & If youre eligble you will get it.
It’s aged up to 69 depending on income, 70 and over already have free GP cards.
That whole scheme is a joke. My daughter has to pay a GP privately (€60) per visit,because all GP’s lists in her area are full for her 1 year old. Obviously no way of claiming these private fees back either. She can drive 60 kms to our original family GP, but who does that with a sick infant. This latest announcement is just bs from government and I wish all those newly elligible good luck finding a doctor firstly and if they do, one that actually answers the phone to give you an appointment. The system is broken badly.
@John Merriman: we had the same issue with our twins,you need two refusals,you then go to the HSE,fill out a form accompanied by the refusal emails and they will assign you one,in our case we were assigned a gp practise who knocked us back in the first place,the mind boggles.
Vincent Browne had the measure of this Muppet
This is a rehash of the press release with the income details missing as contained in the press release on gov.ie
Just me or did anyone else just get a flashback to circa 2021 because of that thumbnail. “901 cases recorded. X in hospital, including Y in ICU”
Everyone under 69??? Criteria please?
Means tested..it is or it isn’t., maybe or not, could be ,but maybe not,yes but you don’t… reapply..
Nice.
I think all minimum wage earners should be entitled to a full medical card, the €184 threshold hasn’t been increased in 20 years, this should move inline with both the minimum wage. There are millionaires in this wonderful country of ours with full medical cards and paying exorbent private health insurance premiums, the rich get richer while the rest of us have to pay for everything and wait years for appointments/surgeries if we live long enough
I was on the fence but now definitely voting FFG next time around.
Pensioners?
have your say