Spanish summer campaign poster edits out model's prosthetic leg, uses photo without permission

Spanish summer campaign poster
Spanish summer campaign poster uses photos of models without permission Photo credit: The Government of Spain

A Spanish campaign poster celebrating body positivity had one model "literally shaking" with anger after a photo of her was used without permission and her prosthetic leg had been edited out.

Sian Green-Lord, who lost her leg after she was struck by a taxi in 2013, said she couldn't even put into words how outraged she was by the indiscretion.

"It's one thing using my image without my permission, but it's another thing editing my body, my body with my prosthetic leg… I don't even know what to say but it's beyond wrong," she said, as quoted by The Guardian.

Green-Lord was the second model to complain about her photo after British model Nyome Nicholas-Williams only found out about the campaign after it was sent to her by an Instagram follower.

"It was nice to see the image initially, but then I saw that it was for a campaign and I then felt annoyed as I hadn't been asked to even be a part of this," she said.

The campaign poster, created by artist Arte Mapache, showed five women of different body types, ages and ethnicities on a beach.

It was launched on Wednesday (local time) by the Women's Institute, part of Spain's equality ministry.

The controversy directed at the campaign has since forced Mapache to apologise to those who were involved without their permission.

"Given the – justified – controversy over the image rights in the illustration, I have decided that the best way to make amends for the damages that may have resulted from my actions is to share out the money I received for the work and give equal parts to the people in the poster," the artist said.

The artist added that reports claiming the commission for the artwork was worth €84,000 (NZ$136,815) were false and that the fee was actually €4490 (NZ$7313)

According to The Guardian, Nicholas-Williams welcomed the artist's apology and offer of a share of the money, but said she would still like to have "a conversation on the importance of consent and asking people to use their images".