15 Hilarious Times People Recognized Themselves In Weird Stock Photos

AmyBrown

Apr 18, 2019 2:00 PM EDT

Ah, stock photos. We all love to poke fun at them but what about those that are actually in the stock photo? And what if they didn't know what the photo would end up being used for? Here are 15 times people found themselves in bizarre stock photos!

Credit to Reddit user FreddTM for asking the community, "People in stock photos, what's the weirdest way you've seen your photos being used?"

01

via chiefMNM

"When I was a kid my mom took me for a photo shoot, then a month later I was on a pamphlet that said "Millions of children don't have homes, adopt one today"'
02

via utsa7

"I'm in the header of my university's grad school application. Whenever someone posts a screenshot of their acceptance email, Facebook facial recognition asks if I want to tag myself"
03

via willardflame

"I ended up finding myself on one of those "Now Hiring" posts on Facebook... for a company I was trying to get hired at"
04

via buffyorbust

"I modeled a bit in college and walked into a store in my local mall one day. They had this huge Valentine's Day section with gift selections for different "types" of girls with pictures of models. There was the "sexy "girl, "adventurous" girl, "funny" girl and then my picture with just the word "other girl"…"
05

via mellotronplayer

"My family did a stock photo shoot when our kids were young (like 1 and 3). A picture they took on our porch ended up in the opening credits for The Americans"
06

via ScoobyDeezy

"I have some friends that found one of their wedding pictures from Facebook somehow printed on a pillow in a market in a middle-eastern country. Like… they just randomly happened upon their wedding photo in a random street market.
They are from the U.S."
07

via kerpud

"I let a photographer friend take a stock photo of me. I looked sad in it and it ended up on some website about victims of abuse."
08

via greaper007

"My whole family modeled back in the 80s. Somehow my dad ended up in a brochure for some born again church that said he was a sinner and adulterer until he found Jesus."
09

via skippinglives3

"My friend was in a stock photo where he held up a baby picture, and it got used for an anti-circumcision ad campaign. Was pretty shocked when I saw his face on the side of a bus"
10

via AlexEH

"We found out this past Christmas that my uncle's stock photo of him at a spa had been turned into a hummus meme. Just him, soaking in a bathtub full of hummus."
11

via SuRoAwAe

"This takes place many, many years ago when foreigners were a rare sight in Japan. I'm a big, friendly looking white guy, and I was asked to do some photos of "a couple on a date."
So I go around to some scenic locals with a beautiful Japanese woman, the photographer, and his assistants. Fun day. Took tons of romantic photos. And that was the end of it…
Until a month or two later when my "date" and I showed up on posters all over the subway as part of an AIDS awareness campaign (because you can catch that from foreigners, y'know!)
Needless to say my friends and coworkers thought it was hilarious, and amazingly it didn't have any noticeable impact on my dating life. Looking back my only regret is that I didn't steal one of the posters."
12

via E-iz

"In college, a photography student took some pictures of me playing classical guitar; I ended up in a viagra ad. I was 19."
13

via aabbccbb

"I knew a girl who was reaaaally full of herself, but really shouldn't have been.
One of her stock photos got used on an article about people who are self-centered.
It. Was. Perfect."
14

via solid_space

"For context, my ex and I were an interracial couple (Asian/White) and both born in the US.
We were used in some passport-style and portrait photo studios in Vietnam. We did some other photos, one which included us opening a car trunk near a beach-side town, pretending to be on vacation. One day a friend sent us screenshots from an Asian Female/Western Male dating website with our photos on the page.
Below each photo were "our" testimonials, written in Vietnamese with something along the lines of: "What a life! We're a real Cinderella story come true! She used to be a simple country girl and now she's about to get a green card to live a happy and fulfilling life in the US! Thanks (DATING SITE)!""
15

via ducksterr

"When I was a senior in high school, I was chosen to do a stock photo shoot for a big health company. They didn't tell me what they were going to use my pictures for, I was just excited to get free clothes and a tiny bit of cash. The way I found out how they used my photo was when I went to the gynecologist about a year later and saw my picture on the wall – I was the face of teenage pregnancy counseling.
Edit: I was definitely NOT pregnant, I actually think I was still a virgin when the photo shoot happened"