We’ve been talking about all sorts of things to do with media production these past few weeks in my Digital Media unit, including some conversations about stock footage.  So, it’s rather timely to see that, as has been widely blogged elsewhere, one of Hillary Clinton’s campaign advertisements has turned back on her due to the use of purchased stock footage.  This is the advertisement in question, about the Red Phone ringing at 3am:

However, it turns out that the little girl supposedly afraid in her bed has grown up since that footage was shot, and Casey Knowles is no fan of Hillary Clinton as she explains in this rebuttal on YouTube:

Casey Knowles’ point that she “reject the politics of fear” is powerful given the message the stock footage of her younger self was being used to convey.  It’s one of the perils of using stock footage that the people in that footage may very well have a life and opinion of their own.  There’s nothing more effective that that last line:  “I’m Casey Knowles and I approve this message. And not the other one.  Something worth remembering both in politics and when sourcing stock footage from archives. [Via Barry]