A Photo Of BJ Novak Was Accidentally Deemed Public Domain, And Now His Face Is Printed On Personal Care Items And Household Products Across The World
Most of us are used to seeing BJ Novak on TV. You probably know him best from his role on The Office and might have watched his recent Hulu anthology series, The Premise, too.
If you're living in Sweden, Uruguay, or the US — or searching for personal care items online from anywhere else — then it's possible you've also caught a glimpse of BJ's face on an assortment of miscellaneous product packages.
Like this multicolored face painting kit, for example:
Not ringing any bells? How about this Nordic cologne?
Or these rechargeable hair clippers...?
There's this razor as well:
Anyone wondering when and why BJ decided to dabble in stock photo modeling will find some answers on the actor's Instagram story today, where he shared the merchandise snapshots above alongside a message explaining what exactly is going on here.
"Years ago, someone mistakenly put an image of me on a public domain site, and now apparently I am on products all around the world," he wrote.
Public domain images are royalty free, and available for both personal and commercial use.
It most likely wouldn't be difficult for BJ to request that his photo is removed from the public domain website, but the star noted that he's currently "too amused to do anything about it," which is a sentiment we can get behind.
