B.J. Novak’s face is on products worldwide
For the last few years, any Swedes who purchased a bottle of Calvin Klein’s Encounter cologne were probably greeted by the piercing gaze of an American actor.
Same for anyone who purchased certain brands of face paint in Uruguay, electric razors in China or knee-length ponchos in Europe.
Something about the man’s familiar countenance enchanted product makers from around the world, who chose his stock image out of millions to feature on their packaging. But the man in the picture, B.J. Novak, a 42-yearold actor best known for his role on “The Office,” didn’t choose to be the face of perfume or face paint or ponchos.
Someone else chose his picture and then uploaded it “years ago” to a website where Novak believes it became part of the public domain, he said on Instagram on Monday. It could not be determined who took the original picture.
That could mean the image, complete with his tousled hair and black collared shirt, is free to use without permission. Whatever the legalities, many companies have been using it for years, as BuzzFeed noted Tuesday in a roundup of personal care and household products from around the world bearing his image. So, yes, that is Ryan from “The Office” on a box containing hair clippers.
Though he has had other projects in film and on television, including “The Premise,” the FX on Hulu anthology series, he is best known for the character Ryan Howard, who rose from a much-abused temp to a corporate executive for the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Co. Off camera, Novak was a writer, director and executive producer for the nineseason hit NBC sitcom, based on the British series of the same name.
Novak appeared to be taking his stock photo fame with good humor. On Instagram, where he posted the pictures of himself on various product packages, he saved the images in a collection he called “modeling.” He could not be reached for further comment through his representatives.
Most likely, Novak has not made any money off the use of his picture.