Hey... that guy looks kinda familiar.

March 3, 2015 5:09 PM

Vince Vaughn and Co-stars Pose for Idiotic Stock Photos You Can Have for Free.

Stock photos have a bad rap. They're campy and cheesy and the butt of plenty of jokes. But what's great about them is they're often the catalyst for promotions or gags—sort of a comedic blank slate.

As part of a stunt for their upcoming movie, Twentieth Century Fox teamed up with iStock by Getty Images to produce photos that can be freely used in your next business presentation.

posted by quin (24 comments total)

I absolutely love these. Also, they end up accidentally getting used in a Mitch McConnell campaign advert or I buy everyone a drink.
posted by 4ster at 5:11 PM on March 3, 2015 [6 favorites]

I don't think they "posed for" these, they look conspicuously and kind of badly photoshopped. I like the concept (although the movie sounds horrible), but it would have been a lot better if they'd actually gotten the people together to shoot these.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 5:14 PM on March 3, 2015 [6 favorites]

I don't think they "posed for" these, they look conspicuously and kind of badly photoshopped.

Same thought here. Although those do feature quite a number of dumbly blank expressions.
posted by psoas at 5:17 PM on March 3, 2015

I was close to posting this, but thought it might be too somethingsomethingBlue.

As for the photoshop, yes, I think they are. I like how Vaughn looks hungover in every shot.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 5:19 PM on March 3, 2015

Needs more excited pointing at a generic laptop screen.
posted by octothorpe at 5:22 PM on March 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

Would it have killed them to include just one shot of Vaughn laughing while eating a salad?!
posted by lekvar at 5:24 PM on March 3, 2015 [37 favorites]

Now to put pornhub comments on them...
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:26 PM on March 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

This is great and I'm going to use them whenever I can
posted by The Whelk at 5:29 PM on March 3, 2015

Vaughn kinda always looks hungover.


It's part of his personal brand.
posted by The Whelk at 5:30 PM on March 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

Yuck, Vince Vaughn. I've never understood why he's considered talented. I just cringe whenever I see him. Probably because he's a self-proclaimed clueless libertarian.
posted by discopolo at 5:30 PM on March 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

This post is where I get to mention my new favorite species of Internet meme, /r/youdontsurf. (Warning: mostly SFW but often vulgar, chidlish, sexist, or otherwise offensive.) They're little stories made out of stock photos; the more nonsensical, the better. Here's a funny one that's inoffensive. This one is slightly more bitter but still something you could show in polite company. A few more: grandma likes popsicles, and vaccinations.

The whole thing started with this image (hence, "youdontsurf") but it's really spiraled into its own sort of complex thing, especially the posts featuring a series of images. Still a bit under the radar, not yet overexposed like lolcats or doge. Vince Vaughn hasn't shown up there but I'm quivering with anticipation.
posted by Nelson at 5:34 PM on March 3, 2015 [16 favorites]

Something something something three white male stars, several white women I don't recognize, and one Black guy who ... does he look like Cirroc Lofton?
posted by allthinky at 5:40 PM on March 3, 2015

Where's the walking purposefully through the airport carry a briefcase?
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 5:54 PM on March 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

I will be using this in every powerpoint lecture I do from now on.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:24 PM on March 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

> I like how Vaughn looks hungover in every shot.
> Vaughn kinda always looks hungover.

"Now, here he is four years later, looking like the Greek God of Hangovers."
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:29 PM on March 3, 2015

nelson thanks for that writeup. i've found youdontsurf to be.... rampantly offensive. But, i mostly didn't understand the context, so I'm glad to have that.
posted by rebent at 6:45 PM on March 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

I don't think they "posed for" these, they look conspicuously and kind of badly photoshopped.

Pretty sure that's the joke. Look at the older woman's left hand in this one, for example. Essentially all professional stock photos are digitially manipulated and here they're spoofing the sterilized, alienating, uncanny valley aspect of highly processed composited stock photos as a genre. It doesn't matter if they were all in the same room or not; everything's fake regardless.
posted by xigxag at 6:58 PM on March 3, 2015 [4 favorites]

quin: "to produce photos that can be freely used in your next business presentation."

The article says "editorial use only". iStockPhoto says that means non-commercial use.
posted by Mitheral at 7:42 PM on March 3, 2015

What CAN’T I use Editorial-Use-Only files for?

Editorial-Use-Only files cannot be used for:

- Any commercial use
- Any advertorial use (sections or supplements featuring brand or product names, or sections or supplements for which you receive a fee from a third party advisor or sponsor)

I'm pretty sure that presentations fall under non-commercial use. (as long as the presentation itself isn't a commercial. I was thinking office power-points and the like.)

But IANA-Copyright-L
posted by quin at 8:06 PM on March 3, 2015

I know the bad photoshopping is supposed to be part of the joke, but it just makes these obvious and unusable for pranks. I think they knew if they made these a bit more true to form, they would be circulating for decades.
posted by benzenedream at 8:47 PM on March 3, 2015

This post is where I get to mention my new favorite species of Internet meme, /r/youdontsurf.

youdontsurf is vexing to me because it's always not quite what I want it to be even though I'm not totally sure what I want it to be.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:48 PM on March 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

they need to start making stock photos of disgruntled employees with 1,000-yard stares in break rooms.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 4:33 AM on March 4, 2015

Nelson, that reddit link... fits my perverse sense of humor exactly. Laughed so hard I cried. Thank you.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 9:33 AM on March 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

Stock photo books always put me to sleep, because they stimulate very little recognition by themselves. And because constantly slapping on context is just tiring. Nice to see what they might look like in Bizzaro World.
posted by xtian at 6:55 AM on March 7, 2015