Coat maker Weatherproof broke a long-standing taboo against using a president's image for commercial purposes by putting a larger-than-life AP photo of President Obama wearing one of its jackets onto a Times Square billboard. The unauthorized sign appeared just hours after the PETA anti-fur ad featuring First Lady Michelle Obama, also without White House permission. The Obama administration asked Weatherproof to take down the billboard, calling it an implicit endorsement, but stunt-prone Weatherproof president Freddie Stollmack said it was "just a great looking jacket on a great looking president." Is Obama's image fair game, or did the company step over the line? (See the Obama billboard.)
The Obama billboard is unacceptable: Weatherproof made a "terrible" choice, says Greta Van Susteren at Fox News. "This is not a Democrat or Republican issue"—it's an American one. You can't just "steal the president's likeness." Obama, like all his predecessors, "is the president, not a prop."
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