NRL star Nathan Cleary is reportedly considering legal action after a bizarre AI advertisement bearing his likeness was circulated at the recent State of Origin game.
ICYMI, the Blues took on the Maroons for the rugby match at Sydney Olympic Park on Wednesday, with New South Wales copping a 24 to 12 defeat from Queensland by the end of the deciding game.
Amid the post-game celebrations and commiserations, fans parked in the Homebush P1 car park near Accor Stadium returned to their vehicles to find pamphlets with an AI rendering of Cleary perched on their windscreens.
The leaflet — which promotes NRL-themed car bonnets — was reportedly placed on hundreds of cars in the parking lot, and shows Clearly in his Blues jersey with his arms wrapped around a woman.
For all those curious, the woman is not Cleary’s real-life partner and Matildas star, Mary Fowler.
“Way to go Blues!”, the text on the pamphlet read.
“I knew this one had rizz! I’m taking this one home! This flyer was printed a week ago!”
The product seemingly being advertised was featured behind Cleary and the mystery woman, with the Blues team’s branding appearing on the bonnet and licence plate of a car.
Days after the advertising stunt, Cleary’s lawyer Daniel McGirr told The Sydney Morning Herald that he is weighing up legal action against the fraudulent use of Cleary’s image, which went ahead without the athlete’s approval and without compensation.
“It’s a disgrace what they’re doing with these guys’ brands”, McGirr said, adding that “there’s a couple of avenues” through which he could respond to the pamphlet drop.
“One of them is civilly, but they are also obtaining a benefit by deception, which is criminal,” McGirr said.
The lawyer explained how “we don’t know who is affiliated with these brands”, and expressed concern around “whether they are real brands to start with”.
“They might be scams. Say the punter on the street thinks, ‘Nathan Cleary is aligned to this, I trust him and he’s my hero’. They click on it, and they could be taken to some dark web or something like that and get scammed,” McGirr said.
He went on to describe such uses of AI as a “criminal matter”, and declared it “will get worse and worse until something is done about it”.
Cleary is not the only Aussie athlete whose likeness has been used for advertising purposes without permission.
In 2022, Olympic swimmer Emily Seebohm threatened legal action after an image of her appeared on a billboard campaigning against trans women in sport, while fellow NRL stars Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker and Jonathan Thurston, have likewise been used for such promotional stunts in the past (per SMH).
“There’s a bigger story here about protecting the players as well,” McGirr said.
“Something needs to be done from an NRL perspective, because the NRL merchandising section should be the most concerned.”
Lead image: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images and X
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