Becoming accidentily famous in 2011 is pretty easy actually. Make a weird video, post it on YouTube…the right person catches it and BOOM…you’re on the fast track to an extremely fleeting 15 minutes of fame. These 6 people after the jump are a bit different from said scenario, however. They’ve randomly found out their image was and has been for quite some time the face of a major brand in another country or even in their own! Even the world famous image for “Rosie the Riveter” (above) was the same case! Read more after the jump.
You’ve almost certainly seen the famous World War II propaganda icon “Rosie the Riveter.”
What started as a simple motivational poster for the millions of women working in factories while their husbands were away fighting became one of the most iconic symbols of feminism and equality in the workplace. It’s one of the most well known American cultural images of all time, up there with the raising of the flag over Iwo Jima and the drawing of Uncle Sam.
In 1984, while flipping through a copy of Modern Maturity, 59-year-old Geraldine Doyle spotted an article about the inspiration behind the Rosie the Riveter character: a photo of a 17-year-old girl working in a factory in 1942. Her name? Geraldine Doyle.
Doyle, incredibly, had no idea of her connection to Rosie the Riveter. In fact, she didn’t even know about the original inspirational photo, which given her posture, lends an unsettling peeping-Tom vibe to the whole thing. At the time, she’d just graduated high school and, like many other women, had taken a job in a factory in order to support the war effort. American Broach & Machine Co. had her on a metal press in no time at all, probably after a vigorous and thorough safety-training program that only that decade could deliver.
Fearing an injury that could impact her ability to play the cello, Doyle quit after only two weeks on the job. She endured the potential hand crushing long enough for a photographer to snap the picture without her noticing. Someone who did notice, however, was J. Howard Miller, an artist commissioned by the government to draw up some motivating pieces of art.
He kept Doyle’s pretty face and red bandanna, but gave her slender build a shot of super-heroine sized muscles. Rosie, though not named as such right away, was born, and went on to inspire countless women.
Doyle told the Lansing (Michigan) State Journal, in the understatement of the century, “You’re not supposed to have too much pride, but I can’t help have some in that poster. It’s just sad I didn’t know it was me sooner.”
#5.Taster’s Unfair Choice
In 2002, Russell Christoff, a kindergarten teacher, coasted through the grocery store just like any regular shopper looking for Bloody Mary mix. Coffee wasn’t on his list, but, to his astonishment, he noticed that he was on the coffee.
Yeah, that’s Russell Christoff smelling up a bunch of sweet coffee heat, courtesy of Nestle. And he didn’t know how it got there. Also, he didn’t even like Taster’s Choice. But his coffee clone seemed to love it deeply …
Christoff had knowingly modeled for a Taster’s Choice ad in Canada back in 1986 that, as far as he knew, never got used — he had been paid $250 for the session and sent on his way. Not being good enough for Canada isn’t the sort of thing you want to dwell on in a world with so many tall buildings with roof access, so Christoff pretty much forgot about it and went on with his life.
Unbeknownst to him, a Nestle employee, looking specifically for an image to embody Taster’s Choice, ended up stumbling across the photo again. Naturally, Nestle called up Christoff and asked if they could use the photo in a new worldwide ad campaign. And of course, we’re kidding. This was Nestle, a company famous for being somewhat unscrupulous.
Over the years, Christoff’s face would be plastered on coffee labels in about two dozen countries (including several Latin ones, for which they darkened his skin and added sideburns to the picture for some reason) and he had no idea. He sued and won $15.6 million, which he lost on appeal. He’s back in court now, still fighting Nestle over the use of his face. Nestle, on the other hand, tried to settle things outside of court for the sum of $100,000. Christoff countered with the sum of $8.5 million. Nestle respectfully declined before chuckling softly into a handkerchief and leaving the bargaining table to add a new warning label to their jars.
Continue reading here
