A struggling actress who was paid a mere $600 for a TV ad spot later learned that a Manhattan ad agency resold her image around the country for $250,000, she charges in a $1 million suit.
Elena Araoz, 36, says in her suit against the Levinson Tractenberg Group that she had signed a contract with the ad firm in 2009 allowing it one year’s use of her image in local markets.
Titled “Machete,” the spot for the law firm Trolman, Glaser & Lichtman pokes fun at frivolous suits. It was a hit.
In the 30-second ad, Araoz, who performs off-Broadway, compares the pain from an injury to being struck by a machete.
Then she says, “It was the worst paper cut I ever had. They made the paper way too sharp. Someone has to pay,” and holds up a bandaged index finger.
A script rolls across the screen: “There are some cases even we can’t win.”
A male voice says, “If you’ve been injured, call us, but keep in mind you need to really be injured.”
Following the spot’s success, Levinson allegedly licensed rights to six law firms across the country and pulled in a quarter-million dollars.
Araoz’s friends in New Mexico told her in 2012 that they saw her face on billboards along busy highway I-25.
The ads are still airing and “turn a very large profit at the expense of and to the detriment of the plaintiff,” the Manhattan Supreme Court suit says.
Araoz says that in addition to being stiffed on the fees, she has been typecast as a result of the ads.
The ad agency did not return calls for comment.
Jeffrey Lichtman, of the Trolman law firm, said he was not aware of the suit.