Who knew stock photo agencies were so psychopathic?

We always knew they were pervy. Back in the days when we used to receive hundreds of pounds of stock photo catalogues every month, we'd flip through them for inspiration and stumble upon the requisite "artistic" female nudes. My Art Director friend Donna told me that it was a holdover from the days when most ADs were men. "They really know their audience," she'd snark.

But when I look at some of the pictures dredged up by a great new user-generated viral blog, Awkward Stock Photos, I wonder what kind of deranged lunatics they think they're appealing to now.



The Shutterstock description says it all: "An insane nurse in wearing hypno glasses gets ready to inject you with a giant hypodermic syringe". Yeah, that's exactly what I was looking for.



Not sure what they're smoking over at Corbis, but I'll bet it's damn good.



Getty gives us "woman with meat necklace". This one is part of a series, in case you feel selling prosciutto jewellery to women with altered skintones is campaignable.



I far prefer this Getty image for its honest approach: "I have no idea what your concept is about, so here's a dog with a donut on its head".

Go deep into Awkward Stock Photos. It's a worthwhile time-waster.

And yes. There are boobies.

Thanks to Vince for the link!