Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

CAMPAIGN ADVERTISING:

Status of men in picture in Sharron Angle ad: Unknown

Angle ad

The photographer says this picture is of Hispanic men in Mexico.

The photograph that has become the focus of controversy in campaign commercials by Republicans Sharron Angle and Louisiana Sen. David Vitter shows three Hispanic men posing with the words “ILLEGAL ALIENS” superimposed across their chests.

What the Republicans fail to mention is that the men pictured are Mexican residents who were photographed in Mexico, a fact clearly pointed out in the caption provided by the photographer who took the shot, Chris Floyd. There’s no evidence the men ever entered America illegally.

A British freelance photographer, Floyd shot the photo in 2006 while working on a story about the Minutemen border patrol group for British GQ. He captured the image in a town square in Altar, Mexico, a border community about 50 miles from Arizona and a major staging area for migrants trying to enter America.

The men — Paulino, Max and Mario, two brothers and a friend and among few Mexicans who agreed to be photographed — admitted they hoped to enter the United States illegally, Floyd said. They were farmers from the far south of Mexico. That season’s crop had failed, leaving them with nothing to sell, so they traveled north to the border to seek work. Their goal was to make it to Oregon, where a cousin lived.

“Whether they got there or not, I have absolutely no idea,” Floyd told the Sun on Tuesday. “Although those guys told me they were aiming to go to America, the fact is no one knows if they made it. The facts are unknown, and I think it’s important: If you are going to make claims, they have to be factually verified.”

Angle and Vitter used the image to criticize their opponents — in Angle’s case, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — as being soft on illegal immigration. Angle’s ad shows the photograph in black and white, making the men appear shadowy and menacing.

Floyd said he doesn’t understand why the campaigns didn’t use pictures of actual illegal immigrants being deported or arrested, or actors, as have been used in other political advertisements. The Angle campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

It’s also unclear how the candidates got the image. Floyd released it through Getty Images, which copyrights and licenses photographs. A Getty executive told Floyd the picture has been purchased twice: once by AOL for a small news item and once in 2008 by a Washington, D.C., design firm that does work for the Republican Party. But both companies bought licenses that allowed editorial use only, not use in campaign ads.

“At the moment, there’s no evidence that they bought it legally,” Floyd said. “If they wanted to use it for advertising, they would have had to make contact with a live sales agent. It has been a bit of a manhunt — has anyone in the company sold the rights to Sharron Angle? — and so far no one has found that they have.”

Floyd described the use of the photo as unethical and immoral. Worse, he said, it’s being done by politicians — men and women hired to draft and uphold laws.

“I’m pissed off about the way that the photograph is being used,” Floyd said. “It will be very hard for this picture to be seen now without someone saying, ‘That’s the picture from the Sharron Angle ad; that’s those illegal aliens.’ Before she used it, those were just three Mexican dudes in Mexico.”

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