Obamas weather ad woes

Garment company uses pic of Obama's China visit to promote coats

Garment company uses pic of Obama's China visit to promote coats

A garment company known for publicity stunts is getting one exploit noticed by the Obama administration.

The Weatherproof Garment Company installed a billboard in Times Square yesterday showing US President Barack Obama wearing one of its coats.
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The image was taken during the president's visit to the Great Wall of China. Weatherproof also put the image on its Web site home page, which touts 'The Obama Jacket, Available at Macy's'.

Weatherproof president Freddie Stollmack recognised the coat after he saw a photograph of the presidential visit, and ordered a high-resolution photograph to be sure.
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"With a magnifying glass, we saw our logo and zipper pull, and we said, 'That's our coat',"u00a0 said Stollmack.

Weatherproof spokesman Allen Cohen said the company had also attempted to run ads in The New York Times, The New York Post and Women's Wear Daily with the image, but had been turned down by the publications.

No permission

The Obama administration had not approved the use of the image, spokesman Ben LaBolt said in an e-mail
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"The White House has a longstanding policy disapproving of the use of the President's name and likeness for commercial purposes," he said.

Stollmack accepted that the company had not gotten approval from the White House. Asked whether he was taking a risk, he said, "Is it a calculated risk?

Not being an attorney I'm being, really, a designer, merchandiser guy in the apparel business I would leave that to the attorneys or whatever.

We're not saying President Obama endorses Weatherproof apparel.

If we were to get a letter or a call from the White House saying they didn't approve of it or they didn't like it or whatever, or they see it as an ad, we'll do whatever we have to do.

We're not looking to alienate the White House."

Publicity Stunts

Weatherproof's history of attention-grabbing efforts suggests the company may be seeking the controversy. In 2008, it sent out a press release saying that it would run the shortest television commercial of all time during the Super Bowl, at two seconds. u00a0 The same day, it sent out an update saying that unfortunately, it had just learned that two-second Super Bowl slots were unavailable. Also in 2008, Stollmack tried to wrap Times Square's guitar-playing Naked Cowboy in a Weatherproof coat, getting his picture taken while doing so.