Retired NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg says it's disturbing Trump ad used her image for propaganda

[highplainsdem]

https://heavy.com/news/2020/06/karen-nyberg-trump-space-ad/

Retired NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg, whose husband is currently in space on a joint NASA SpaceX flight, has said on Twitter that she disagrees with the use of her and her son’s image in a campaign video recently released by President Donald Trump. She referred to the use of her image as “political propaganda” in her tweet.

Nyberg spoke out about the use of her image in a Trump ad. She wrote: “I find it disturbing that a video image of me and my son is being used in political propaganda without my knowledge or consent. That is wrong.”

The video, titled Make Space Great Again, is below.

-snip-

Video at the article link.


Here's her tweet:

Link to tweet

Judging by the replies I'm seeing there, the ad's use of her image, and without her permission, violates both FEC rules and NASA's rule against using astronauts in advertising.


Nyberg is married to astronaut Doug Hurley.

[Cha]

1. Retweeted! TY, hpd..

[crickets]

2. Ugh. Terrible. I wonder if NASA or the FEC will bother to push back on this. nt

[Ms. Toad]

3. It also likely gives her a private cause of action

for use of her likeness for commercial purposes without her consent (right of persona).

The details vary from state to state, but generally you cannot use a person's image or name without their consent for commercial purposes. Commercial is generaly broadly interpreted to include charities and political campaigns in addition to what we normally think of as commercial.