The Toronto model who appeared in a controversial skin-lightening advertisement in the TTC believes her photo was stolen and has decided to take a stand against the bleaching her likeness was used to promote.

Chinthiya Rajah has been modelling for more than a decade. She says she has always been careful to read every release form twice to make sure her photos weren’t going to be used for anything but their intended purpose.

“I did not sign up to do this ... I’ve never worked for these guys ... They look like stolen images,” she said.

Rajah was featured in a TTC advertisement for lightnaturalskin.com, beside the slogan “Get brighter and lighter skin!” The website is run by the Liberty Clinic, a private integrated health clinic near Yonge St. and Bloor St.

Contacted by the Star, the Liberty Clinic apologized to Rajah and explained that it bought her photo from a stock image website.

“In order to protect the privacy of our patients, we do not use their facial images on marketing materials. As such, we rely on stock and medical images when producing marketing materials,” the clinic wrote in an email.

Rajah’s story stands as a warning to budding models everywhere that unscrupulous photographers can resell their image to anyone and, as a result, their photo could end up anywhere.

In the contentious ad, Rajah’s face is bisected; the left side has been digitally altered to show very pale skin while the right has a much darker hue.

“Neither of those shades is my colour. I’m not that dark and I’m not that light. I’m brown-skinned.”

Last month, Rajah was alerted to the ad by a friend who saw it in the subway and called to congratulate her on the gig. Shortly afterward, following an outcry on social media, the Liberty Clinic withdrew the ad and apologized, explaining in a statement that “the elective, natural skin treatment stated in the ad is used for medical reasons.”

Rajah doesn’t buy that explanation. The Toronto-born woman of Sri Lankan descent says skin lightening is a deplorable cosmetic process, full stop.

“In my culture, paler is better, but I don’t support that,” she said. “I’m the type of person that believes in embracing your skin tone no matter what your colour is.”

While the ads have been pulled from the TTC, Rajah’s face appeared on the Liberty Clinic’s website until Wednesday, when the image was removed.

She can’t figure out how it got there at all.

“I was more shocked than upset because I know I didn’t do this,” she said.

Rajah used to be represented by a modelling agency, but has been working freelance for several years. She says she assiduously reads all modelling contracts and believes she didn’t sign anything that would allow someone to sell her photos to anyone they please.

Brandon Hall, creative director at Sutherland Models, says modelling agencies will never work with stock image companies. Models can, however, do shoots without the knowledge of their agents and once they sign releases, there is little anyone can do. While typical model release contracts will stipulate exactly what the photos will be used for, some allow photos to be sold anywhere.

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“A photographer that is shooting for stock purposes will have a release to cover themselves,” he said. “Sometimes photographers will do it in an unscrupulous way, and some do it by the book.”

When a photographer wants to sell images for a different purpose than they were intended, they typically contact the agency to negotiate a new fee for the model, said Hall. In that case, “we would never sign a contract in perpetuity,” he said.

When Rajah first saw her face in the skin-lightening ad, she was concerned that the controversy would affect her career. Instead, it has ended up affecting her social life.

“The worst part is that some of my friends think I’m bleaching behind their backs now,” she said. “I’m sure this kind of thing happens every day. I just want to find out how my photo ended up there and make sure it never happens again.”