Saturday, June 11, 2022

‘Chilling historical photos’ that aren’t, courtesy of lying clickbait

Promoters of lying clickbait often hype “chilling,” “creepy” or “brutal” historical photos with pictures that aren’t.
One recent clickbait promotion from Past Chronicles promised “Chilling historical photos.” It said, “Warning, these rarely seen photos are not suitable for all audiences.” But it used a photo from a catalog of bridal dresses from the Justin Alexander Spring 2016 collection. Not very historical or chilling for that matter. (See Strictly Weddings website.)



Another promotion from Past Chronicles with the same title used a photo of Playboy Playmate Louann Fernald from 1979. Nothing “chilling” here unless you count the temperature when the Playboy photographer shot this car-wash pictorial.


A promoted tweet by JourneyRanger on Twitter touted “Never seen before Wild West photos.” But the two photos used were modern-day photos made to look old.
The left photo is by Russian photographer Dmitry Rubinshteyn and the right photo is of model Denyce Lawton.


Another clickbait article titled “Brutal Wild West images” by Bonvoyaged.com used a photo by French photographer Robert Doisneau. He was known for his Paris street life photos from the 1930s through 1960s. Not exactly the Wild West.


This next one is a bit of a mystery. A sponsored link by MoneyWise.com titled “30 defunct restaurant chains that Americans don’t miss” used a photo from a restaurant that I certainly would miss. It shows nine pretty, young women in short skirts and chef hats working in an industrial-style bakery.
The image is available as a stock photo from the Everett Collection, which started as a collection of stills from old movies. None of the stock photo services have details on the photo and whether it is from a movie. The ladies look like they’re from a chorus line in a Busby Berkeley musical.
Another photo in the same collection shows three women with large bowls of doughnuts.
If you know when this photo was taken (1930s perhaps?) and for what purpose, let me know.




Finally, a bonus clickbait article uses the tactic of misidentifying a celebrity’s age to draw attention. A recent promoted article was titled “Angie Dickinson is turning 100. This is her now.” Dickinson is 90.


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