Tesco remove Mel B ad following complaint from Spice Girls star
Supermarket chain Tesco has removed adverts featuring Mel B after the Spice Girls singer complained about the use of her image.
While Tesco have said they had been given authorisation to use the picture, following Mel B's public plea to CEO Dave Lewis on Instagram they have taken the ads down.
In a statement to ITV News Tesco said: "Here at Tesco we are really big fans of Mel B and were excited to feature her photo in our campaign.
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“We had authorisation to use this image, but we’re sorry Mel B is unhappy so we’ve stopped using it.”
It comes after the mother-of-three shared the advert on Instagram along with the message: “Can the CEO of @tescofood DAVE LEWIS PLEASE CONTACT ME URGENTLY. Thank you."
The advert for Tesco's new Clubcard Plus featured a picture of a leopard-print clad Mel B in the Spice Girl's heyday during the band's 1997 Brit Awards performance.
“Stop right now. You get 10 per cent off two big shops a month for £7.99. Thank you very much,” text accompanying the image read, playing on the group's hit Stop.
BBC News reports that the image was purchased by Tesco via Getty Images with a contract signed by Getty and Mel B's agent.
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The ad campaign pays homage to cultural references from the past in light of the company's 100th anniversary. Other figures featured in the adverts include Morecambe and Wise and Casablanca's Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.