Light Hearted Amusement - Ronaldo to sue over Chinese medicine ads

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

 

I found this news item very amusing. It could only happen in China!

 

Taken from: <http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1999565,00.html>

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1999565,00.html

 

The football star Ronaldo is suing a Chinese medicine company which

allegedly used a hastily shot photograph of him to advertise throat

lozenges, reports said today.

 

According to a series of Chinese papers, the Brazilian striker innocently

posed holding a packet of Golden Throat Lozenges at a dinner in Beijing in

September 2003 when he and his Real Madrid team-mates were touring China.

 

 

Ronaldo's representatives said the picture was then used by the Guangxi

Golden Throat Group without permission for a television commercial broadcast

nationally.

 

According to the China Daily newspaper, the footballer, who is on the verge

of leaving Real Madrid for Milan, only found out about the advertisement

when he was approached by another Chinese company to front an advertising

campaign, on the condition he terminate his arrangement with Golden Throat.

 

The paper said the illegal campaign had caused Ronaldo to miss out on seven

other potential million pound-plus deals to endorse Chinese products.

 

 

The China Daily

<http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/sports/2007-01/26/content_793372.htm> printed

a still picture from the offending advertisement. It shows a grinning

Ronaldo wearing a yellow football shirt bearing the drug company's name in

Chinese characters and holding up a packet of the lozenges.

 

 

The paper said the company, based in the south-western Chinese region of

Guangxi, insisted it had permission to use the image, which

<http://www.goldenthroat.com/doce/home/index.asp> remained prominently on

its website today ( <http://www.goldenthroat.com/doce/home/index.asp>

http://www.goldenthroat.com/doce/home/index.asp).

 

 

According to a series of reports, local lawyers have been hired to collect

evidence, with Ronaldo expected to begin legal action next month.

 

 

Piracy and the illegal use of copyrighted images and brands remain rampant

in China - figures from 2004 showed that 90% of computer software used in

the country was illegal - despite increasing international pressure for

reform, especially after Beijing joined the World Trade Organisation five

years ago.

 

 

At the same time, football is hugely popular in the country and players

regularly star in advertisements.

 

 

When the Serbian coach Bora Milutinovic achieved massive popularity by

guiding the Chinese team to their first ever World Cup finals in 2002, he

made millions of pounds fronting advertisements for everything from air

conditioners to rice wine.

 

Regards

 

Attilio

 

<http://www.chinesemedicinetimes.com> www.chinesemedicinetimes.com