Sharing photos that were created for publicity and advertising in old-time Phoenix


Since I'm a graphic designer, and am aware of copyright law, I know that people often wonder if I'm in violation when I share an old publicity photo, or advertising photo. And as an old ad guy, it kinda makes me smile. What a question! I'll see if I can explain.

A publicity photo, like the one at the top of this post, which is of Valley Center under construction in 1972, was created to encourage newspapers and magazines to share it, in print. A photographer was contracted to take the photo, paid by Valley National Bank, and then hundreds of prints were made and mailed out. A company does this in the hopes that it will get free publicity, which is free advertising, by getting this photo in print, hopefully with a story in a newspaper or magazine. As you can tell, there was no limitation on how it was used, rather it was hoped that it would be used a LOT!

If you're concerned about how it all works financially, the photographer gets paid for their work, and then there are the costs of making the 8" X 10" prints, mailing them, that sort of thing. It's an investment that a company makes to promote itself, and while no one in 1972 could imagine the internet, I'm sure that the current owners of Valley Center (now called Chase Tower) would be delighted at the free publicity that I'm giving them here. See how that works? It's to their benefit that the photo is widely distributed. Someone might be saying, "What a cool building, I'd like to rent an office there!"

Of course, I'm not promoting anything here, I just get a big kick out of old photos of Phoenix, and I love sharing them. If someone gets rich because of me, that's fine. I've worked for a lot of clients who have made a lot of money from what I've done for them, and in return I've gotten paid for my effort. My payment now is life enrichment, and I want to keep on doing this for as long as I can. Thank you for your help!
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