The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Swastikas to knee sleeves: Sam the image of umbrage
APerth pensioner whose row with Amazon over a pair of swastikacovered slippers thrust him into the spotlight has told of his surprise to find his face being used to advertise “knee sleeves”.
Sam Purdie made headlines in 2017 when The Courier revealed his concerns about a £10 pair of navy moccasins he bought online.
The retired engineer was horrified to see the underside of his slip-ons covered with Nazi emblems.
Now the 84-year-old has discovered that his photo is being used, without his consent, in an advert for an online orthopaedic firm.
The ad suggests that Mr Purdie is a knee surgeon who is “amazed by these revolutionary knee sleeves”. It shows a doctored photograph of Mr Purdie holding up the specialist pads, inside what appears to be a hospital. The image is a photoshopped version of the original picture, which showed Mr Purdie holding up his “swastikabranded” slippers at his home in Perth.
“I just logged online, and there was my photograph amongst the small ads at the bottom of a news page,” he said.
“It said I was a knee surgeon.
“Can you imagine a retired mechanical engineer operating on someone’s knees?”
Mr Purdie said: “I know I’m a handsome fellow, but I do object to my face being used in an advert without my permission – and totally erroneously.
“First of all, I’ve never heard of this product so I would never ever endorse it.
“And secondly, I am definitely not a surgeon of any kind.
“I hope I don’t get someone at my door looking for an operation on their knee.”
He said: “It’s very well done. People probably wouldn’t know it was a fake.
“Whoever did this must have found my photo online and thought: This old guy with a beard, he looks official, we’ll just use him.”
Mr Purdie intends to lodge a formal complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority.
The company named in the online advert, Circa Knee, did not respond to emails.
Mr Purdie said he binned the swastika slippers that made national news three years ago.
The company behind them, LJ&R Footwear, said the resemblance to the Nazi emblem was purely coincidental. “It is honeycomb maze pattern,” a spokeswoman said.