A British Instagram influencer says she was left “shaking with rage” after discovering the Spanish government had used her image for a government campaign promoting body positivity – but edited out her prosthetic leg.
Sian Green-Lord, 32, also becomes the second model from the same advert to allege that her photo was used without permission.
In an Instagram video, she said: “I don’t know how to even explain the amount of anger that I’m feeling right now. There’s one thing using my image without my permission. But there’s another thing editing my body.”
She said that she only found out about the campaign when friends messaged her about it and described her reaction when she saw her image, taken from one of her Instagram posts, in the bottom-left of the advert. The photo had been edited to remove her prosthetic leg.
The campaign by the Spanish Ministry of Equality has been described by a Spanish politician as emphasising the message that “all bodies are beach bodies”. It involves cutout images of a diverse group of women sitting on a beach, with overlaying text that reads: “Summer is ours too. Enjoy it how, where and with whomever you want.”
Ms Green-Lord’s leg was amputated after she was hit by a taxi while on holiday in New York in 2013.
“I literally don’t even know what to say but it’s beyond wrong,” the influencer said about the Spanish government campaign.
She is the second model to have flagged that her photographs had been used without permission.
Earlier this week another British model and social influencer, Nyome Nicholas-Williams, said on Instagram that the campaign had used her photographs without her consent.
She wrote: “So I’ve just been sent this… my image is being used by the Spanish government in a campaign but they’ve not asked to use my image or likeness! Great idea but poor execution!”
She later told The Independent that her agent has reached out to the ministry but they have yet to get a reply.
On Thursday campaign creator Arte Mapache issued an apology for using photographs without permission.
“Given the – justified – controversy over the image rights in the illustration, I have decided that the best way to make amends for the damages that may have resulted from my actions is to share out the money I received for the work and give equal parts to the people in the poster,” she was quoted as saying by BBC News.
No statement has yet been issued by the Spanish government regarding the controversy.
