An image was used of a girl on a controversial billboard. The mother of the girl had signed a release, acknowledging that her daughter's image could be sold and used for other purposes. The copyright issue here is with the image and not the controversy of the ad itself.
The issue that is discussed was that the mother did not want her daughter endorsing a controversial issue in such a manner. I can understand why the mother thought it could be illegal for her daughter to "endorse" a program. One con to this issue is that the mother signed a release form, which allows for others to decide how her daughter's image to be used, not her. The mother would not be protected under the copyright law because of the release form. Even though she probably did not think it through it at the time, the release form is a written contract saying that she understands she has no ownership of the photos. I think that it is important to note that the billboard was taken down due to controversy, not because of the image itself.
From the educational perspective, it would be legal for educators or students to use the image. Hobbs states in chapter 2, "At the heart of copyright law, the doctrine of fair use states that people have a right to use copyrighted materials freely without payment or permission, for purposes such as criticism, comment,news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research." The modeling agency would have full legal rights to the images. Because of the Fair Use Doctrine, the image could still be used in education without violating the owner's rights.
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