Sony Ad

[David_Buzzard]

I recently saw an ad for the new Sony D-SLR camera in the most recent editions of National Geographic and Outside Magazines. On it, it shows a picture of a Cheetah attacking a baboon.

The funny thing is that the photo was shot by a guy named John Dominis for Life Magazine in 1965. The other thing about the photo was that it caused some controversy at the time of it's publication, because both the baboon and the Cheetah were in an enclosure, and the photographer just waited for the Cheetah to get hungry to get his picture.

I really wish that camera manufacturers wouldn't use pictures that have nothing to do at all with their products as part of their advertising.

David Buzzard's Technical Blog

[Aaron Winters]

Seems like that would border on deceptive advertising to me since it is an ad for a camera the assumption is that the camera in the ad took the images. But I am no attorney. I personally feel it is and I agree with you David.

[Noel_Carboni]

It's apparently a leopard.

Deceptive... Not to mention cruel. What reasonable ad department would market their product through the depiction of death? Bleh, Sony seems pretty heartless.

Here's the ad by the way: AdFreak: Sony camera ad features competitor's shot

This image seems to be related: Getty Images

-Noel

[Walter_Kimmel]

Another Sony ad bothered me. They depicted the Alpha 100 in an environment with, if I remember correctly, rough water and possibly sand or dust; the implication was that the camera would be at home and protected in that setting. Actually, the camera's instruction manual warns against exposing the camera to dust and moisture, as it is not particularly protected.

I'm not knocking the camera, which I bought for my wife. But I'm uncomfortable with "misleading" advertising.

[Ronald Garrett]

This kind of stuff goes on more than anyone really knows. Some current magazines regularly feature almost pure digital articles, but the cover and many of the full page shots are actually taken with medium format film equipment. The correct credits are given somewhere in the magazine, but most of us don't go searching for it.

Truthfullness in advertising is a rareity these days it seems.