Model Receives Damages After Unwittingly Becoming The Face Of HIV

A model has been awarded $125,000 after being shocked to find out she was the new face of the HIV epidemic.

According to Fox News:

A Brooklyn model has been awarded $125,000 after she unwittingly became the face of HIV when a state agency used her stock photo in an ad campaign.

A perfectly healthy Avril Nolan had been seeking $1.5 million from the Division of Human Rights for using her face in newspaper spots with the words, “I am positive” and “I have rights” for its 2013 public health campaign.

I have many questions.

1- Could they not find someone who ACTUALLY HAS HIV to do this? I feel like there are a lot of “HIV activists” out there that would have willingly done this for free.

2- When she posed for the stock photo, did she sign anything that exempted the photo from any sort of use? If not… should she have been awarded anything?

and 3, which I guess kind of goes back to #1… WHY would anyone use a STOCK PHOTO for a project like this?! It was a disaster waiting to happen. You should definitely make sure the person whose face you’re gonna stamp “I am (HIV) positive” all over isn’t going to flip their lid at you.

Anyway…

When Nolan, who is in her 20s and is also a PR rep, learned from a friend’s Facebook post about the ad — and her photo in it — she was “completely shocked” and “sick to the bottom of her stomach” thinking that her friends, employer, clients, exes and future boyfriends might see it, according to court papers.

In fact, one co-worker came up to her and gave her a hug, then asked, “Oh, will I catch something?,” Nolan testified.

Another co-worker sent her a “Happy World AIDS Day” email, she said.

UHHH. Her coworkers are really weird. Who does that?

Court of Claims Judge Thomas Scuccimarra found that Nolan “suffered emotional distress and humiliation during the immediate aftermath of the publication and for some time thereafter; however, there is no basis for an award of future damages.”

And therefore did not award her the 1.5 million she originally sought.

Let’s be honest. I would want $1.5 million if a bunch of billboards popped up claiming I had HIV, too.