tales from the office #539

I could tell by the way the phone message indicator was flashing that it contained an angry message.

nowadays, clients rarely jump off their wallet to pay for custom photography. i warn clients of potential pitfalls and dangers of using stock photography. unfortunately, the attractive price tag of stock renders the client temporarily deaf. so, we sift through the same stock image CD's we did on the 20 project previous which are the same 20 cds all the other creative agencies, corporate creatives, and power point jockys all around the globe sifted through for their last 20 projects.

the voice mail from the client was so angry, it was nearly incoherent. after listening to the message six times in super slow mode, i concluded the client was upset about the photo of a woman we used (and they approved) on the client's home page. the client claimed the woman was a sleazy sex therapist or some thing to that affect. after much research and googling, i discovered a full page men's health magazine advertisement disguised as a sexual advice column written by a supposed sex therapist. the "therapist" photo was the exact same stock photo used on the client home page. the "therapist" advised men to purchase a product that would greatly enhance the size and endurance of their floppy bits.

making matters worse, the client is in the healthcare industry, and on occasion may partner with subject matter experts. a connection to such a person may seem odd but not out of the question.

the client failed to see the advertisement's fine print explaining the advice column was actually advertising. the client was convinced we had purposely used the photo of a nationally noted sex therapist and syndicated sex columnist. again i reminded the client of the dangers of stock photography. later that morning we uploaded a new image. an image from a different but very common stock photography cd.

every day i wait for my message indicator to blink angrily again.

Posted by griff at April 13, 2004 02:23 PM