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“I do not endorse your product or any company who uses artificial BS”: Tyler Bryant calls out guitar company for Photoshopping image of him playing one of its instruments
Here’s a lesson on how not to market guitars…
Credit: Will Ireland/Classic Rock Magazine/Future via Getty Images
Musical instrument company Fesley was recently schooled on how not to market their instruments after Tyler Bryant called out the brand for using a doctored picture of him rocking one of their guitars on stage – despite the fact that he’s never actually touched one.
The picture, in which Bryant wields a Les Paul-style electric guitar, was used on the Fesley website to promote their FLP350 LP copy. Sharing the original Shutterstock photo – where Bryant plays his prized Fender Pinky One Strat – in a side-by-side comparison with the Photoshopped image on his Instagram account, the guitarist wrote: “Yo, Fesley Music… Please take your doctored photo of me down.”
“I do not endorse your product or any company who uses artificial BS to bamboozle people. It’s snake oil!”
The photo has since been removed from the Fesley online store, and the brand has apologised for the move in the comment section of Bryant’s post: “The Fesley team sincerely apologises to you. We have withdrawn the image across all platforms. We are in positive communication with you and hope we can make the music world more colourful together,” said the company.
While most users have condemned the audacity of the Photoshop job, with musicians Jared James Nichols, RJ Ronquillo and Nick Perri quick to criticise the false endorsement as well, several commenters have noted that this might just be the unfortunate case of Fesley purchasing a Shutterstock photo alongside the rights to edit it however they want.
They also suggested that Bryant have a quick word with whomever uploaded that original photo on Shutterstock instead.
This isn’t the first instance of a celebrity’s image being used without their consent to advertise a product or service. And with how far wizardly editing has come, it’s unlikely to be the last. Back in March, Rob Chapman of Chapman Guitars spotlighted the use of AI deep fakes in promoting fake guitar competitions and scams.
“It’s already a daily issue and I think it’s just going to get worse and worse and I don’t know that there is an easy [solution] to this problem,” he said.