Cultural misrepresentation in Adobe Stock images - how to complain

Question

I notice that searching for "geisha" brings up images that are obviously not of geisha. Not only in the generative AI images but in photo stock images too. These distort and confuse what geisha are/were look like and do. Why are images on Adobe Stock allowed to be tagged with things that they do not represent correctly or respectfully?

Here is an AI example. https://stock.adobe.com/images/image-ai-portrait-of-a-typical-japanese-geisha-generative-ai/579951336

Here is a non-AI example:
https://stock.adobe.com/images/sexy-geisha-in-japanese-red-kimono-with-a-fan-back-view-female/134213582

Such images being part of a set labelled as "geisha" distort and stereotype as well as disrespect actual geisha and traditional Japanese culture to an extent that seems ignorant if not downright racist.

Why are such images allowed to be thus labelled?

This is only a specific example that interests me but I'm sure many others exist.

Why is there no way to report images that are obviously incorrect and whose tags are probably used to generate even more distorted images of specific cultural icons or occupations and cultures?

Jill_C · Answer

This is a sensitive issue to address. I don't think Adobe sets out to either control or perpetuate stereotypes, regardless of whether they're accurate or false. If such stereotypes as you've pointed out with the geisha examples already exist in society, should it be Adobe's job to correct those by means of their decision to accept or reject the asset? No, I don't think so, and expecting their Moderators to know that it's a false stereotype and possibly offensive to someone out in the world is asking too much of them. The responsibility in using such images commercially really falls upon the user. If I were a graphics designer or advertiser or blogger, or whoever might want to incorporate an image of a geisha in their communications or products, I would certainly spend the time to do the research and make sure I was using correct imagery for whatever message I was trying to convey. Frankly, I don't know a lot about the geisha tradition, but I'm quite certain that the "sexy" version portrayed in that second image is NOT in keeping with the elegant and revered geisha profession; but that doesn't mean that Adobe should refuse the image.

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