Hipster Dude's Complaints Were Completely Unfounded

RiverboatRon Published 03/06/2019 in facepalm

The featured Tech Review image in question.

A Tech Review article offended one man who thought the featured image was of him.

A few days ago we ran a piece in @techreview about some research purporting to explain the "hipster effect"—the fact that nonconformists often end up nonconforming in the same way. We used a stock Getty photo of a hipster-ish-looking man. https://t.co/8LB6qLSmgS
— Gideon Lichfield (@glichfield) March 6, 2019

We promptly got a furious email from a man who said he was the guy in the photo that ran with the story. He accused us of slandering him, presumably by implying he was a hipster, and of using the pic without his permission. (He wasn't too complimentary about the story, either.)
— Gideon Lichfield (@glichfield) March 5, 2019

The editor set the facts straight on Twitter.

Now, as far as I know, calling someone a hipster isn’t slander, no matter how much they may hate it. Still, we would never use a picture without the proper license or model release. It was a stock photo from Getty Images. So we checked the license. https://t.co/uFPXXNlEid
— Gideon Lichfield (@glichfield) March 5, 2019

They did due diligence to make sure they wouldn't be in any hot water.

The image does have restrictions—e.g., if you use it “in connection with a subject that would be unflattering or unduly controversial to a reasonable person (for example, sexually transmitted diseases)”, you should say that the person in it is a model. https://t.co/sYNmqJYZ2g
— Gideon Lichfield (@glichfield) March 5, 2019

We weren’t implying that the model had an STD, only that he was a hipster. We didn't think this met the definition of “unflattering or unduly controversial.” Still, we recognized that others might disagree. So, just to be on the safe side, we contacted Getty.
— Gideon Lichfield (@glichfield) March 5, 2019

That's when the story took a real turn.

Getty checked the model release, and gave us the news: The guy who complained wasn’t even the guy in the picture. He'd misidentified himself.

All of which just proves the story we ran: Hipsters look so much alike that they can’t even tell themselves apart from each other. /ENDS
— Gideon Lichfield (@glichfield) March 5, 2019

Hipster dude was offended by a picture that wasn't even him! Enjoy your daily dose of schadenfreude.