True to form, the party passed the blame onto someone else, claiming a third-party vendor was responsible for the mailer. Because you can't enter politics anywhere on Earth without knowing how to throw absolutely anyone under the bus at the drop of a hat.
1
An Ad Agency Amputated Some Guy's Leg
Cleo Berry, an actor from LA, made a bit of scratch in his past by posing for some generic photos. He got paid, they were nothing out of the ordinary, and he probably assumed that if he ever saw them again, they'd be stock photos in an ad for lip balm or cat litter or something. And unlike the other poor bastards on the list, he was willingly taking the picture for cash. Really, what could he have to complain about?
Well, the pics wound up on a billboard in New York City, the lamentable focus of a diabetes awareness campaign. Berry's leg was Photoshopped out of the picture to appear as if it'd been amputated, with a scary red warning hovering next to him as he sat on a stool looking sad and forlorn behind all the cups of sugary soda he drank until his diabetic-ass leg had to be sawed off.
New York City Department of Health and Mental HygieneThey even put in some crutches!
Yes, the people behind the "If you don't start drinking water then fuck you, Diabeto" campaign had decided that Berry, who was a bit of a husky gentleman, was the perfect example of someone whose runaway portions had caused one of his limbs to die. He apparently has no grounds for a formal complaint. He got paid for the photo shoot and signed a release that probably clears them to use it for everything, up to and including porn. (Or hell, amputee porn. It's out there.) Photoshopping an able-bodied person to have one fewer limb when they needed a picture of someone with a disability is gross but not actionable.
The campaign was quick to point out that none of this matters, since it's for a good cause. If these misleading, gross pictures encouraged even one child to drink a smaller soda, it was all worth it.
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For more, check out 4 Sleazy Corporate Marketing Campaigns Aimed At Kids and 5 Huge Marketing Campaigns That Were Complete Catastrophes.
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