Sarkozy and Bruni are awarded E60,001 in damages after Ryanair ad
Budget airline Ryanair has been all over the web lately for their questionable advertisements and today is no different.
French president Nicholas Sarkozy and his other half, Carli Bruni, were recently very upset to discover that Ryanair had used the couple’s picture without their permission in one of its ads. Not only that, but the ad also had Mrs Sarkozy saying, “now all my family can come to the wedding”. The wedding was a bit of a touchy subject at the time, so it’s no wonder the Sarkozy/Bruni unit wasn’t too pleased about the picture.
The couple initially tried to sue for €500,001. Sarkozy wanted a mere €1 while Bruni was demanding €500,000, as that’s apparently the average she charges for the use of her image in visual advertising.
Well, the case has been all wrapped up and the couple were awarded just €60,001 and we’d say the two are no doubt disappointed with the outcome. Oh well, win some, lose some, eh ?
Ryanair recently got into hot water with the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) for another ad they had running here in the UK.
The ASA asked that Ryanair withdraw an ad it felt was offensive and portrayed school-aged girls in a provocative way.
The image showed a woman in a classroom, dressed in a short skirt and skimpy top. The caption on the image read,
“HOTTEST back to school fares”
The authority said it received 13 complaints from people who claimed the ad was offensive and that there was sexual connotations to the image.
The ASA said that the classroom setting, together with the type of clothing the woman was sporting "appeared to link teenage girls with sexually provocative behaviour and was irresponsible and likely to cause serious or widespread offence".
Ryanair maintained that the ad was only likely to cause offence to a handful of punters,
"the ad was likely to be found offensive only by the minority of people who were likely to find any such representation objectionable".
Still, just goes to show ; Ryanair knows how to get publicity.
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