is it right for banner ads to include pics of strangers?

[mike1rotch]

meaning, people who don't work there; photos from stock photography libraries, some random photo model, etc...
essentially, people who never have worked at the agency, MP, whatever

this also goes for general website graphics, prints ads, etc...

 

[sirduke]

I think this is a common practice for many businesses, not just agencies. There are a lot of risks associated with photographs of employees in advertisements.

A while back my employer ran an ad campaign using pictures of employees. During the campaign one of the employees used in the campaign was fired for drug abuse on the job. Needless to say we had to pull the campaign and a lot of print material was tossed out.

I think another reason that employees are not used in ads is because of turnover. I think that this would be a problem if agencies used their own staff in banner ads.