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Victor Polk and Samantha Claremont, a half-black, half-white couple who have been dating for two years, have decided to stay together in order to make money off iStock photo shoots. Despite their frequent fights and lack of real affection for one another, the allure of a paycheck for something as easy as smiling on a park bench is enough to keep them together.
Polk said of the decision, “Yeah, Samantha’s pretty cool, but I didn’t think it was going to be a long-term thing. It turns out there’s just a lot of demand for pictures of people like us holding hands while sipping lattes, kissing at the airport, and walking our dog.”
“Victor is cute and he’s an okay cook," said Claremont. "But what’s really kept our relationship going is the fact that you can’t exactly tell if he is Dominican or Senegalese, and companies love that.”
Polk and Claremont’s overall racial ambiguity has made them a top hit on iStockPhoto.com. Their pictures are the most frequently used in corporate Google PowerPoints to visualize “a typical, loving American couple.” Cheerios has even offered them a commercial deal. Their most popular poses on the website are “Happy Interracial Couple Mowing the Lawn,” “Diverse Duo Goes for a Ride in the Prius,” or “Playful Mixed Couple Takes Stroll Through the Park.” Other commonly viewed photos include “Mixed Lovers Enjoy Some Ice Cream,” “Beautiful Biracial Twosome Meandering on a Sunday Afternoon,” and “Multicultural Newlyweds Admire Their Recently Bought Colonial.”
As of press time, Claremont is three months pregnant with the couple’s first child. She commented, “We’re going to start doing interracial family photos. In these tough economic times, it is the most rational decision.”
