Weird Stock Photo Usage Reddit: How Your Face Ends Up on a Hummus Meme

What happens when your face goes global without you knowing? From 70 countries using a teacher's face for school software to a guy becoming a viral hummus meme, the stories of former stock models are flooding Reddit. These individuals signed away their rights for a quick buck, only to find themselves in the most bizarre contexts years later.

Weird Stock Photo Usage Reddit: The Unpredictable Life of Generic Images

A viral thread on Reddit recently asked stock models about the strangest ways they've seen their photos used. The answers range from heartwarming to horrifying. Some models were paid as little as $100, never imagining their portrait would become the face of a sensitive public health campaign or a random product half a world away.

• 1st: The face of a grading program used in over 70 countries (Discovered by the model herself after becoming a teacher)
• 2nd: Prominent display in every Walmart in the US for work shirts (The model had no idea he was a national face)
• 3rd: AIDS awareness campaign in Japan (A simple "date" shoot turned into a warning about foreigners)
• 4th: Child obesity campaign (A model's childhood photo from 10 years ago used for a sensitive topic)
• 5th: Anti-circumcision bus ads (A friend holding a baby photo used for an unexpected cause)

The Permanent Loss of Image Control

The common thread in these stories is the standard stock photo contract, where models relinquish all rights to the photographer. One woman noted that her photo from 5+ years ago was used by an MLM makeup company just to add "diversity" to their catalog. Others have found their wedding photos on pillows in Middle-Eastern markets or themselves featured in mandatory sexual harassment training videos at their friends' workplaces.