Magazine Publishing Question?

Question

I'm starting an online magazine and I have a few questions and I can't seem to find the answers. I would like to be able to feature things like: back to school fashions, products, etc. So, say we do a back to school spread and the kids are wearing clothing from Old Navy or Walmart, how do we get permission to do that? Do we need permission? I would think you would have to. Can you write about a brand? Any help with these questions would be great!

Answer 1

You can email the marketing/communications departments of the companies in question.  Given that you are a small outfit you could do your stuff and likely stay under the radar - but do you really want to risk getting sued?

Writing about their stuff is not the issue - in fact they will likely send you material (free advertising for them).  Its the images that can be a problem.  So email the head offices and find out what's what. (btw Old Navy is owned by The Gap)