Bodybuilder's Photos Used Without Consent
Bodybuilder Sion Monty was left shocked after a health company used his photos to promote its wellbeing programme.
After gaining five stone (31kg) following the birth of his son, he shed his "dad bod" and documented his journey online, gaining 240,000 followers on Instagram.
Sion, 38, challenged Longevity Wellness Clinic after it used his photos, and was left even more angry when it falsely claimed one of its trainers had worked with him.
After being contacted by the BBC, the company removed the images and apologised to Sion, adding that the trainer who supplied the images had lost their job.
"It was very frustrating to see because obviously I have my own journey and story all behind that transformation," Sion said.
"So obviously to see that this person had been using my photo to sell his well-being programmes, they kind of took away the credibility of my story."
Early Fitness Journey
Sion, 38, from Porthmadog, Gwynedd, began his fitness journey in 2013 after his first year at university in Liverpool.
Returning home, he was shocked when someone made a jibe about his weight.
This was the spur for him joining a gym, which became a life-changing moment.
"[I] actually fell in love with fitness and the gym," he added.
"I knew from that moment on, like that's what I wanted to do."
Sion went on to qualify as a nutritionist and then opened his own gym.
But while he was helping other people shed weight and get healthy, his own fitness got put on the backburner.
It was only after the birth of his son in 2018, and putting on five stone, he decided he had to take action again.
Motivation to Transform
His family had a picture taken in a photo booth, and he said:
"I couldn't believe it was me [in the image].
"I was a fitness coach, a gym owner and I was overweight and it did not make sense.
"I was putting weight on because I had been covering myself with like hoodies and everything.
"I didn't want my son to grow up and look back on photos and I'm there overweight and stuff, so I just made that decision to get myself in shape."
Determined to get rid of his "dad bod", Sion decided to transform his health, documenting his journey on YouTube and Instagram.
As he shed the weight, going from 98kg (15st 4lb) to 80kg (12st 6lb), he grew his following.
It was at this point he posted a before-and-after picture to his 240,000 followers on Instagram.
Unauthorized Use of Photos
Sion was shocked when it soon appeared on the Longevity Wellness Clinic website.
"They sell wellbeing programs for $35,000 (£26,000) and they are using my photos to sell these programmes, but I have never done anything with them before," Sion explained.
"I've never met him [the Longevity employee who used his photo], never used his services."
He said when he first contacted them, they claimed one of their trainers helped him.
"This is not the first time this has happened to me and I'm sure there are many people doing it to make money," added Sion.
"It's unfair to those who really do the work and try to help people."
Company Response
After being contacted by the BBC, Longevity Wellness Clinic apologised for the fact the photo had been used in the first place, and also that there had been a delay in it being taken down from its website.
A spokesperson for the company said:
"We requested the agency managing our website to remove the pictures, and they confirmed the deletion.
"Perhaps the propagation of the changes takes up to 24 hours and we did apologise regarding the mistake."
