After being contacted by the media, the woman whose image was depicted was, according to reports, confused about why she showed up on the Buttigieg campaign.
"What's the meaning of the message accompanied by the photo? Have no idea of what's happening", she said, cited by The Daily Mail. The Kenyan woman told media that she had agreed to pose for the photo but did not expect that it would become a stock image.
According to The Daily Mail, the picture was earlier available on the free stock photography website Pexels, where a description explained that it was made in Kenya.
Netizens instantly took to social media to mock the Buttigieg campaign's goof.
Buttigieg and his campaign have repeatedly referenced the Douglass Plan, named for the black 19th century US abolitionist Frederick Douglass. “Our response to those who ask what our agenda for black America is the Douglass Plan”, Buttigieg told CNN, adding that “it is the most comprehensive vision put forward by a 2020 candidate on the question of how we’re going to tackle systemic racism in this country”.
According to the Daily Mail, Buttigieg is experiencing a second surge in polls in recent weeks, as some surveys show him in the lead in the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus.