I made this photograph to illustrate the idea of communication...not just military communication but any kind of modern communication.  Even when they are far from civilization, soldiers have access to many of the same kinds of systems and technologies civilians have.  Rather than a local service provider, however, they typically use specialized military radios like the PRC163 made by L3Harris and a "ruggedized" computer like this one from Getac.

The stock photography industry has changed dramatically in the recent past, we're still producing authentic images that realistically show military missions and missionaries in action...and we seem to be the only stock photo business doing so.  It's harder than it looks, too, because we need to own all the tactical gear, the computer, the SATCOM antenna system, and the other "battle rattle."  To comply with DoD regulations, the man in the photo is a veteran and not currently in the US armed forces.  He's wearing genuine uniform and protective gear.  And since we make our photographs in secure private locations, we use this 13,000 acre facility for tactical scenarios.  

DoD Finally Enforces Regs

Well, it looks like DoD is finally doing something about enforcing their advertising regulations. The regulations have been discussed in other posts and have been around for years but generally ignored because they weren't promoted or enforced. A new person has taken over the job at the Pentagon and she seems to actually be contacting advertisers and getting compliance. One on-line educational institution that advertises heavily in ARMY TIMES and the other Military Times publications often had two or three large ads in each issue, each ad identifying a person in the ad (generally an actor) as a member of the US Army or other branch -- a flagrant violation of the regs. Those ads suddenly got a new look a few weeks ago -- the actors are still there, but the IDs and the uniforms are gone. About time!

UPDATE -- DoD Advertising Regulations

We've been trying to educate stock photography users for years about the Department of Defense's regulations for the use of photography in advertising. Few advertisers were interested, and with pretty good reason -- DoD didn't promote the regulations very well and didn't enforce them at all. That just changed. DoD has a new person responsible for this issue and she seems actually intent on putting some teeth in the rules.

Here's a summary of the regulations:



First, the idea is that you can't suggest that US DoD endorses your company or your products in any way. That means that nothing in your advertising illustrations or ad copy can link any part of DoD to your product or service.

So how do you promote to the military marketplace? First, avoid showing any US distinctive markings, insignia, or uniforms. One advertiser in ARMY TIMES has been running a series of ads for months that show a soldier in ACUs, complete with rank insignia and a US ARMY branch tape on his shirt, and identified by name (fictitious, I believe) in the ad copy. The same advertiser has a portrait of a Marine in dress blues, and other people, all of whom are identified as being members of the US armed forces one way or another. These uses seem to be in violation of the regulations, both the images and the text in the ad.

Compliance with the regulations isn't really difficult. Here are the basics:

Don't include any US-specific insignia anywhere in the ad. You can show a F-15 aircraft because many nations operate F-15s, but you can't include the distinctive star-and-bars logo used by the Air Force. You already have a good photo of the F-15 you want to use in an ad, but it has a visible insignia? Photoshop it out and the photo will probably be in compliance.

1. Don't include photographs of people whose uniforms are unique to the US. Lots of nations use "woodland" pattern BDUs virtually identical to the US version. But rank insignia, branch insignia, and unit insignia attached to a uniform will identify at a glance that a person is a member of the US armed forces, and that's prohibited. Advertisers can avoid this issue by making photographs for their ads that include ONLY people wearing "sterile" uniforms without insignia or other identification. Existing photos may sometimes be corrected by "Photoshopping" out the prohibited insignia. But you can't easily correct a photo of somebody in USMC dress blues with Photoshop.


2. DoD does not want photographs of "active duty" military personnel to appear in advertising because of the issues described above. That means that all of the free photography on the DoD sites -- and there is a ton of it -- does not comply with the regulations. But there's a problem with this -- there is no way to tell from the photograph itself if the people in the image are members of the military or not.


3. Finally, the regulations indicate that advertisers of products or services related to the US armed forces have all ads reviewed before publication. This requirement has been in force for many years, but very few advertisers bothered because there were no consequences if they didn't. DoD attorneys are now sending letters to advertisers who don't comply with the regulations, either the content or the review process. You can have your ad promptly reviewed by sending it in PDF form as an email attachment to pareview@osd.mil

The nice lady at the Pentagon who is now responsible for all this is Ms Adrien Starks and her contact information is:

Adrien F. C. Starks
Chief, Civic Outreach Team
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)/
Community Relations
The Pentagon, Rm. 2D982
Washington, D.C. 20301-1400
Office: 703-695-6290
DSN: 225-6290
Blackberry: 571-345-8610
Fax: 703-697-2577

The regulations themselves are summarized at this DoD link:
http://www.defenseimagery.mil/products/dodimagery/commercialuse.html

DoD Regs on Advertising Photography -- Part One

Ad agencies, public-relations firms, and anybody using photographs to promote products or services in the US should be aware of the requirements of the Department of Defense concerning advertising. These regulations are, DoD tells me, essentially laws and violating them could result in a problem with government attorneys. That doesn't seem to happen very often, though, because DoD seldom seems interested in enforcing the regs, at least at the present time.

If you're an advertiser, DoD does not permit you to suggest in any way that the US government endorses your product or service. In practical terms, that means that you are not allowed to show a photo with a person or object that are clearly part of the US armed forces. You can show an F-15 aircraft, for example, because many nations use the F-15 -- but you can't show USAF markings on the aircraft in the photo. All that's required to comply with the regs is to Photoshop out the markings. The same sort of thing applies to "bumper" markings on vehicles, branch and unit insignia on uniforms, and anything else in a photo that is unique to the US armed forces.

Another part of the regs relates to the people appearing in the photos. According to DoD, they are not supposed to be on active duty. That's not easy to establish just by looking at a photo, most of the time, but DoD prefers advertising photos use actors wearing "sterile" uniforms -- clothing without any patches or insignia at all.

But magazines and other publications are full of ads that violate these regulations. The reason seems to be that enforcement is a very low priority and that violaters will never hear from DoD's lawyers. More on that in another post.

I'll write about this again. It's a big topic and if DoD ever gets serious about enforcing the rules, a lot of advertisers will need to change the way they illustrate their ads.