Kurtz
10-16-2007, 11:50 AM
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. -- A South Florida mother walked into a Homestead BJ's and saw her son's photo on a Luvs diaper packager, the woman's attorney said.
The woman filed a lawsuit against Luvs' parent company, Proctor and Gamble for putting 6-year-old Chase Oliva's face on the packaging without proper procedure.
Oliva was 3 years old when he made his advertising debut, but his mother's attorney David Shenkman said there was a big problem.
"They certainly did use the picture, but they never got back to mom and they never paid for the pictures," he said.
Shenkman said Oliva and his mother went to an open casting call. His mother paid a $200 sitting fee for a four-hour photo shoot. The snapshots were taken, but the call saying Oliva had made the cut never came, his mother said.
"She was walking in a department, a BJ's store, and she saw the diaper box with her son's picture on it," Shenkman said.
Oliva's image is not just on store shelves. The photo is used on Luvs logos on the Internet, as well.
"Maybe there was a blanket waiver at the sign-in," Ed Arenas of Unique Casting said. "At that level, you really don't find a lot of scams. There are a lot of scams in the business and you really do have to be careful."
Arenas is head of Unique Casting. He is unrelated to the case, but weighed in on how the situation could have happened.
"A large company works through an ad agency who hires a production company who subcontracts through independent casting people who maybe haven't covered all the bases and dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's," he said. "There's probably going to be a lot of finger pointing in this one."
Procter and Gamble released a statement on the issue.
"We were surprised with this suit as we had been working jointly to investigate this situation with Ms. Oliva's attorney," the statement said. "However, we're unable to comment further now due to pending litigation."
Oliva's grandfather recently died and, his mother said, he was the inspiration behind the boy modeling. His mother said he never knew his grandson actually made it big.
Woman Sues Over Son's Face On Diaper Package (http://www.nbc6.net/news/14348031/detail.html)
If I recall correctly, P 'n G has done this before with
Folger's Coffee, used some man's face without payin' him.
The woman filed a lawsuit against Luvs' parent company, Proctor and Gamble for putting 6-year-old Chase Oliva's face on the packaging without proper procedure.
Oliva was 3 years old when he made his advertising debut, but his mother's attorney David Shenkman said there was a big problem.
"They certainly did use the picture, but they never got back to mom and they never paid for the pictures," he said.
Shenkman said Oliva and his mother went to an open casting call. His mother paid a $200 sitting fee for a four-hour photo shoot. The snapshots were taken, but the call saying Oliva had made the cut never came, his mother said.
"She was walking in a department, a BJ's store, and she saw the diaper box with her son's picture on it," Shenkman said.
Oliva's image is not just on store shelves. The photo is used on Luvs logos on the Internet, as well.
"Maybe there was a blanket waiver at the sign-in," Ed Arenas of Unique Casting said. "At that level, you really don't find a lot of scams. There are a lot of scams in the business and you really do have to be careful."
Arenas is head of Unique Casting. He is unrelated to the case, but weighed in on how the situation could have happened.
"A large company works through an ad agency who hires a production company who subcontracts through independent casting people who maybe haven't covered all the bases and dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's," he said. "There's probably going to be a lot of finger pointing in this one."
Procter and Gamble released a statement on the issue.
"We were surprised with this suit as we had been working jointly to investigate this situation with Ms. Oliva's attorney," the statement said. "However, we're unable to comment further now due to pending litigation."
Oliva's grandfather recently died and, his mother said, he was the inspiration behind the boy modeling. His mother said he never knew his grandson actually made it big.
Woman Sues Over Son's Face On Diaper Package (http://www.nbc6.net/news/14348031/detail.html)
If I recall correctly, P 'n G has done this before with
Folger's Coffee, used some man's face without payin' him.