By James McNair
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The black-suited man in the print ad wears a wide, satisfied smile. But he is selling computer software - or a sexual aid?

Actually, both.

But not any more.

A billion-dollar software company in San Jose, Calif., learned that a stock photograph it ran in a Wall Street Journal ad for salespeople Monday was the same image employed for the cover of a Forest Park company's sales brochure for erection-enhancement tablets.

The photo, one of tens of thousands of male images sold by Getty Images of Seattle, was used by BEA Systems to recruit "leaders in enterprise software sales."

In the brochure distributed by Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, the same unidentified man appears beneath the headline, "Maximize the pleasure with Enzyte, the once-a-day tablet for natural male enhancement."

"It's extremely unfortunate," said a BEA spokeswoman who didn't want to be identified. "We wouldn't have used the photo had we known its history."

BEA pulled the ad.

Deb Trevino, senior vice president of communications for Getty Images, said Getty does not track how buyers use its photos. The photo used by BEA and Berkeley cost $99 to $399, depending on size, and is a "royalty-free" image sold to anybody. Buyers who want exclusive use of a photo must go to Getty's "rights-managed" collection.

"The upside of a royalty-free image is unlimited use. It's also less expensive," Trevino said. "The downside - and we make it very clear to our customers - is that it can be used by any company in any number of uses with no restrictions."

Getty's Web site, www.gettyimages.com, offers 25,524 male pictures for unrestricted use. BEA and Berkeley happened to choose the same one.

"It could have happened to any company," the BEA spokeswoman said.

E-mail jmcnair@enquirer.com