In one of the most irresponsible and immoral instances of marketing gimmickry in recent times, a hospital in Kerala used the legendary Driving Miss Daisy actor Morgan Freeman’s face to advertise its dermatologic wonders.
The hospital named Vadakara Cooperative in the Kozhikode district of Kerala has since then apologized to Morgan and removed the poster.
But the damage is done. This is not the first time that Morgan Freeman’s picture has been wrongly used in India. On Nelson Mendela’s death, Morgan’s face had been wrongly put on banners in Coimbatore in honour of Mandela.
As far as using cinematic celebrity’s names unlawfully is concerned, India leads the race. India’s most iconic star Amitabh Bachchan once told me of this incident where a man claiming to be a huge fan came up to him at an event and asked for a picture together. After Mr Bachchan obliged he was informed that the picture made it on the front cover of thousands of exercise books.It took months of legal action to get the picture removed.
“It’s a menace we have to face,” says Mr Bachchan. “As a public figure we cannot shy away from social interaction where people want to shake your hand , take pictures with you. Once they have the pictures we have no control over how they are used.”
Another iconic star Hema Malini confesses she has been a victim of such illegal photo-hijacking numerous times. “Many times when I am travelling to the interiors I see my faces on hoardings on the roads selling products I’ve never heard of. It is wrong. But how do I stop it? The amount of legal procedure involved(in stopping illegal use of photographs) is very exhausting. I’d rather use that time to do something valuable for my constituency.”
The superstar of the 1960s Asha Parekh says the menace was easier to control in her days. Main toh photo deti hi nahin (I didn’t allow photographs). Fans were happy with autographs. Nowadays everyone has a camera in the phone and before you can say yes or no they have their pictures.”
