Rick Scott caught again using foreign stock photos in ads for his 'America First' policies

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) released a new ad this week attacking President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats for what he called “dumb” economic policies and touting his own “Rescue America” package as the way to “grow the economy, bottom up, naturally and organically.” Though his 12-point plan includes an “America First” section, Scott’s ad features multiple stock images that appear to be from foreign countries.

After Scott tells viewers that he wants to “take money out of Washington’s pocket and put it back in your pocket,” the ad shows video footage of a farmworker carrying vegetables in a basket. That clip appears to be taken from a stock video called “Grow it organic, grow it good” that is available on the website of the company Getty Images. The company’s tags for the video include “South Africa” and “Non US Film Location.”

Next, Scott’s spot shows a “closed” sign being flipped to “open” on a cafe door. This is identical to a Getty iStock video tagged as both “Non US Film Location Videos” and “Thailand Videos.”

Finally, a clip is shown of two people working at a laptop in what appears to be the same cafe. It matches an iStock stock video tagged “Non US Film Location Videos” and “Brazil.”

A Scott campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to an inquiry for this story.

This is not the first time Scott’s communications team has used foreign images while pushing his “Rescue America” plan.

The American Independent Foundation reported in March 2022 that the document his campaign published containing what was then an 11-point policy plan featured multiple stock photos from foreign countries. At least one of them appeared to be from Russia.

At the time, Scott was vocally demanding a boycott of Russia’s economy to punish Vladimir Putin’s regime for invading Ukraine.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.