The action, which was filed in a Dallas state district court according to media reports, accuses the companies of libel and invasion of Alison Chang’s privacy, causing her grief and exposing her to ridicule.
The issue stems from Virgin Mobile’s recent ‘Are you with us or what’ campaign, in which an image of the 16-year old, sourced from the popular Flickr website, was superimposed with two slogans from the campaign, ‘Dump your pen friend’, and ‘Free text virgin to virgin’.
A Virgin Mobile Australia spokeswoman told Media: “Virgin Mobile Australia is unable to comment at this stage as we have not received or seen a copy of the lawsuit in question at this stage.” She also referred to a previous statement that read: “It was part of an approach designed to reject clichéd ‘advertising’ imagery in favour of more genuine and spontaneous shots.
It is typically Virgin to embrace fresh initiatives and the democratic spirit of Flickr matches the inclusive nature of our ‘Are you with us or what?’ campaign. The images have been featured within the positive spirit of the Creative Commons Agreement, a legal framework voluntarily chosen by the photographers. It allows for their photographs to be used for a variety of purposes, including commercial activities.”
