Hipster Gets Furious About His Photo Being Used For An Article About All Hipsters Looking The Same

The MIT Technology Review was recently in trouble over an article they posted titled’ The hipster effect: Why anti- conformists always end up looking the same.’ The article was authored by Brandeis University mathematician Jonathan Toubol who discussed “the hipster effect”. It specifically analyzed ‘how the population of hipsters initially act randomly but then undergo a phase transition into a synchronized state.”

The article was fine save the inclusion of a Getty Images stock photo of a bearded man. It prompted one reader to contact the magazine and he didn’t sound happy.

“Your lack of basic journalistic ethics in both the manner in which you ‘reported’ this uncredited nonsense, and the slanderous, unnecessary use of my picture without permission demands a response, and I am, of course, pursuing legal action,” he wrote.

MIT Technology Review Editor-in-chief Lichfield explained the situation in detail.

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“I looked at what his accusation was, and I said, he seems to be accusing us of implying that he’s a hipster. I’m pretty sure that can’t be prosecuted for slander,” Lichfield said. “My second thought was, you know, I’m sure that we used this photo in accordance with the license and we got it from a reputable agency, so there shouldn’t be a problem with using it even if the person in the picture doesn’t like the implication.”

So I forwarded the email to our art department … and their response was, “Yes, we have the right license. But, you know, we can take the picture down anyway if he’s annoyed. But our creative director said no, this was an image that we used with permission and perfectly in accordance with our rights. We shouldn’t take it down just get somebody doesn’t like it.”

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The email chit chat ironically proved the 34-page study and gladly, it all ended amicably.

“They wrote to him and … said, ‘We don’t think this is you.’ And he replied, ‘Oh, I guess you’re right, it’s not,'” Lichfield explained. “No apology, but, you know, I’m happy that it’s resolved.”