Lying clickbait tactics: Photoshopped fakes, misidentifications

Mariam Offersgaard should be angry.
A Photoshopped picture of the retired Danish gymnast is being used in a clickbait post by Revcontent titled “Most shocking women on Earth (viewer discretion advised).”
The doctored picture makes her look like the Incredible Hulk. Instances of this photo online appear to outnumber the original picture posted below.
I’ve seen that happen with a lot of Photoshopped pictures online.
Offersgaard was part of the Danish national gymnastics team from 2004 through 2010. She now works as a gymnastics trainer and physiotherapist in Norway.

What follows are other recent examples of lying clickbait that I’ve spotted online.

Another Revcontent article titled “New rule in Great Falls, Virginia, leaves drivers fuming” uses a photo of a woman in an orange dress being arrested.
The picture is actually a bad Photoshop job of a stock photo that has nothing to do with Great Falls, Va. The photo is offered on stock image websites as “Bride is arrested on her wedding day” and credited to Zimiri. Someone changed the color of the white dress to orange for the clickbait article.

A recent Taboola article titled “There’s a good reason why the Amish keep these secrets hidden” used a photo of actress Kelly McGillis from the 1985 movie “Witness.”

A sponsored article by Revcontent titled “15 actors you didn’t know were gay” uses a photo of Tom Cruise and John Travolta, neither of whom has come out as gay.
Cruise and Travolta have faced persistent rumors that they are gay, but if either were to come out as homosexual it would be big news. They’d likely get magazine covers like Ellen DeGeneres did in 1997.
However, even if Cruise and Travolta were gay, I’m sure their religion Scientology would have “cured” them by now.

An article by Revcontent titled “He took his own life and no one said a word” uses a photo of former reality TV star Jon Gosselin. He’s still alive though his ex-wife might wish he were dead.

A Revcontent article titled “She never mentions her other daughter, here’s why” uses a picture of Kris Jenner and a woman who is not her daughter.
Jenner has five daughters: Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, Kendall and Kylie. She also has a son, Robert.
The woman pictured with Jenner in the clickbait article had been arrested on a drunk driving charge. The mugshot has been featured on websites that like to post photos of attractive criminal suspects.

Finally an article titled “After losing 250 lbs. Rebel Wilson is unbelievably gorgeous” uses a photo of actress Wilson side-by-side with English model Iskra Lawrence. They are definitely not the same person.
By the way, one online website estimates Wilson’s weight to be 291 pounds, so losing 250 pounds would be a tad difficult.
This isn’t the first time Wilson has been used in weight-loss clickbait articles.
Last November, a Taboola article titled “After losing 200 lbs. Rebel Wilson is actually gorgeous!” used a Photoshopped picture of Wilson.
In February, a Taboola article “After losing 220 lbs. Rebel Wilson is gorgeous now” paired a photo of Wilson with California model Mikayla Carr.

President Trump depicted as Nazi, racist, insane on latest magazine covers

Nine months after taking office as the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump continues to be vilified by the press.
In his first 60 days in office, 62% of the media coverage of Trump was negative, according to the Pew Research Center. That compares with 20% negative coverage for Barack Obama and 28% each for George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. (See article “Do The Media Hate Trump? Yes, And From The Very Start Of His Presidency, New Survey Shows.”)
Magazine covers featuring President Trump have been mostly negative, too.
What follows is the latest batch of Trump magazine covers since my August post on the subject. (See “Magazine covers depict President Trump as warmonger, KKK member and mental patient.”)
As usual, the harshest magazine covers featuring Trump come from outside the U.S.
German news magazine Stern depicted Trump giving a Nazi salute while draped in an American flag on its Aug. 24 issue.
The cover headline “Sein Kampf,” or “His Struggle” is a play on Adolf Hitler’s 1925 book “Mein Kampf.”
British news magazine The Week portrayed Trump as a Confederate general (Sept. 1), NFL critic (Oct.6) and sex abuser (Oct. 20).
U.S. news magazine Newsweek presented Trump as insane (Sept. 29) and godless (Oct. 13).

Who is this stunning redhead? Model, author, dental hygienist?

One of my hobbies is tracking down the origins of photos used with clickbait articles and online advertisements.
A few weeks ago, I saw a photo of an attractive woman with red hair, blue eyes and lots of freckles and tried to figure out who she was.
Long story short: I was not successful.
I’m now hoping that I can solve the mystery by posting this article and seeking feedback. (Feel free to reply in the moderated comments section below or by emailing me.)
The first time I saw this redhead’s photo was with a sponsored link by Taboola titled “5 online dating sites that actually work.”
Doing image searches I was able to find the photo and others from possibly three photo shoots. Those photos were at one time available on stock image services like Shutterstock and Fotolia.
Her photos have really gotten around online. She has been used to promote dental hygiene, dermatology, cosmetics and online dating.
Her photo is even used on the author page for a mystery writer named M.C. Grant on Amazon.com. Grant has written three books about the “action-packed adventures of Dixie Flynn, a wise-cracking reporter for San Francisco’s top alternative weekly.”
But unlike hardnosed reporter Dixie Flynn I was unable to crack the case of the stunning redhead.
A photographer named Alexis Zimmermann, based in Strasbourg, France, included one of the redhead’s photos on his website. But he told me via email that he did not take that photo, but obtained it through a stock photo service.
Another artist, Raidenphotos on DeviantArt, did some touchup work on the picture, but is not the originator of the photo.
Max Petrov, a photographer in Samara, Russia, included three photos of the woman on his website. He identifies her as Julia, but provides no details.
I reached out to Petrov, but he has yet to respond.
Can anyone solve this mystery?

April 25, 2020, update: The model's name is Iuliia Ciari. See comments below.

Follow-up article: Meet Iuliia Ciari, the stunning redhead behind a host of online ads

Lying clickbait: Fake locations, fake historical photos

Lying clickbait never rests, so neither can I.
Here are the latest examples I’ve seen while surfing the web.

A sponsored article titled “20 places on Earth you’re not allowed to visit ever” could have included a photo from one of many interesting locations. Instead it chose a Photoshopped fake.
The article used a picture where a star-shaped island was added next to Hawaii’s Molokini Crater reef. The result is an island formation that looks like the star and crescent symbol of Islam.

A Taboola sponsored article promising “actual Wild West photos” uses a modern photo taken by Ed Ross.
Ross, who died last year, used the Collodion process or wet-plates for his final eight years of work. By replicating the early photographic process, Ross created images that looked historical. (See articles by Nerve and Juxtapoz.)

Another article titled “Old love, new life: Finally ties the knot at 68” used a photo of actors Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. They are not married to each other as the headline implies and neither married at 68, for that matter.

The next three examples are variations on lying clickbait that I’ve seen for some time.

A Revcontent sponsored article titled “25 final photos taken before tragedy struck” used another picture from Brazil’s Pedra do Telegrafo. The rock cliff is just a few feet off the ground, but photos can make it look like people on it are in danger.
(See earlier examples from posts on July 31 and Sept. 10.)

A Taboola article titled “Historical WW2 photos that are pretty unnerving” used a picture of model Dee Marie taken in 2014 by photographer Mark Goodman. (See earlier examples from posts on Nov. 16, 2016, and March 19.)

Finally, a Taboola sponsored article titled “65 rare historical photos are truly unnerving” used a photo of actress Brigitte Bardot with Jacques Charrier in Saint Tropez in 1959. The only thing unnerving about Bardot is what an absolute smokehouse she was.

‘The Exorcist’ kicks off returning TV favorites

The fall TV season has gotten off to an uneven start. “Star Trek: Discovery,” a quality sci-fi space adventure show, debuted on CBS, while “The Orville,” a lousy Star Trek-homage/dramedy, has stunk up Fox.
Unfortunately all of the remaining episodes of “Star Trek: Discovery” will air on subscription video-on-demand service CBS All Access, to which I don’t plan to subscribe.
There aren’t many new shows I’m interested in, but I have a bunch of returning favorites, starting with the season-two premiere of “The Exorcist” on Fox tonight.
Season one was surprisingly good and scary. It also served as a fine sequel to the classic 1973 movie “The Exorcist.”
Other shows on my watch list include season 13 of “Supernatural” on the CW, premiering Oct. 12; season eight of “The Walking Dead” on AMC, premiering Oct. 22; and season two of “Stranger Things” on Netflix, available Oct. 27.
Yes, I'm a fan of science-fiction, horror and fantasy shows.

Related reading:

Fall TV season 2017 thoughts; ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ most anticipated (Sept. 4, 2017)

3 new physical halls of fame open with Wonders of Wildlife

Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium opened on Sept. 22 and along with it came three new physical halls of fame.
Located within the big new attraction in Springfield, Missouri, are the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame, International Fishing Hall of Fame and the National Archery Hall of Fame.
By my count, there are now more than 400 physical halls of fame you can visit in the U.S. And that count does not include high school halls of fame, which are basically just trophy display cases.
The Wonders of Wildlife is the passion project of Bass Pro Shops founder and CEO Johnny Morris, who is a leading conservationist.
The attraction features a 1.5-million-gallon aquarium and showcases 35,000 live fish, mammals, reptiles and birds. It also houses a large collection of record-setting game animals in immersive wildlife galleries and dioramas.
The 320,000-square-foot facility is located next to the Bass Pro Shops National Headquarters.

Photos: Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium

Strange sports: Lingerie MMA, pizza acrobatics, lumberjack contests

In the 1989 movie “Say Anything,” a character played by John Cusack said he was into kickboxing, which he described as the “sport of the future.”
Of course, he was wrong. Kickboxing was popular for a while, but soon faded, overtaken by mixed martial arts.
It’s hard to predict what sports might be popular in the future. There certainly are a lot of wannabes.
I’ve written quite a bit about fringe sports over the years.
In my last post, I highlighted several geek sports leagues for video games, fighting robots, drone racing and robot car racing. Maybe one or more of those are sports of the future.
What follows are several goofy sports I’ve seen lately.

Lingerie Fighting Championships

After the Lingerie Football League (now called Legends Football League) burst on to the scene in 2009, there was an explosion of sexy women’s sports. It begat bikini and lingerie basketball and hockey, as well as copycat football leagues.
Lingerie Fighting Championships started in 2013. It features wrestling and MMA fighting by sexy women dressed in lingerie.

Pizza acrobatics

Pizza acrobatics is the skill of tossing of pizza dough in athletic and creative ways.
Pizza acrobats have two main opportunities every year to show off their skills and compete for the title of World Pizza Champion – at the World Pizza Championships in Italy, or the World Pizza Games, which are held during the annual Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, according to Atlas Obscura.

Lumberjack sports

Lumberjacks are some tough men and women and there are competitions worldwide to show off their skills in tree felling and sawing and axing through thick tree trunks.
In the U.S., there are the Lumberjack World Championships, held every July in Hayward, Wisconsin, and the Stihl Timbersports U.S. and world championships.

DodgeBow

DodgeBow is a sport that combines dodgeball and archery.
Up to 24 players compete in an arena with bows and arrows designed specifically for the activity. The arrows are topped with foam and reportedly hurt less than paintballs. If you get hit by an arrow, you’re out. The last team with archers still standing is the winner. The game starts with a “Hunger Games”-style dash for arrows.
The first DodgeBow Arena opened in Montreal.
A similar sport is Archery Tag, which has locations throughout the U.S.

Car curling

Last March, a bunch of crazy Russians created a new sport called car curling.
Instead of 40-pound granite stones and brooms, the game is played with Soviet-era cars known as Okas. Like in Olympic curling, the idea is to slide an object on ice closer to the center of a target than your opponent’s object. Those with the most points win.
(See articles by UPI, the Washington Post and the Daily Mail.)

Related reading:

Geek sports: Video games, fighting robots, drone races, more (Sept. 21, 2017)

Fringe sports, sexy sports, fake sports – a roundup (June 28, 2014)