Firefighter and Model Considers Suit Against Law Firm for Using His Photo in 9/11 Ad
Updated: A firefighter who moonlights as a model is considering filing a lawsuit against a law firm for using an altered version of his photo in an ad touting its expertise in Sept. 11 lawsuits.
Robert Keiley didn’t become a fireman until 2004, but the ad suggests he was on the scene during the 2001 terrorist attacks. “I was there,” the ad reads. “And now, Worby Groner Edelman & Napoli Bern is there for me.” The New York Post has the story.
Keiley told the Post he thought he was posing for a fire prevention ad, and he was holding a helmet in the picture. In the law firm ad the helmet has been replaced with a photo of the destroyed World Trade Center. He earned $350 for the job.
“I had friends who died on 9/11,” Keiley told the New York Post. “How can I look their families in the eye if they see this picture, thinking I’m trying to make money on their [loved ones’] deaths? They’d probably think I’m a scumbag.”
The law firm blames its ad agency Barker/DZP, according to AdWeek’s AdFreak blog.
Keiley signed a release that allows his photo to be used in ads and promotions, according to a Barker/DZP spokesperson. And the ad does include some fine print. “This is an actor portrayal” of a potential claimant under a federal compensation law, it says. Nevertheless, Barker/DZP president John Barker released a statement today in which he defends his agency’s actions but apologizes to Keiley and the New York City Fire Department.
“At no time did we have any idea—nor could we have had any knowledge—that the person in the photo, Robert Keiley, was an actual firefighter, much less a New York City firefighter,” Barker said in the statement. “This unfortunate coincidence makes the ad into something we never intended it to be.”
Updated at 3:52 p.m. to include statement from Barker/DZP president.
