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A UK restaurant could wind up in court for its gross depiction of a particular former Spice Girl: Victoria Beckham is reportedly considering legal action over an advertisement that uses a caricature of her to push thin-crust pizza, the Telegraph reports.
A delivery van belonging to Sidhu Fish & Chips in North Tyneside features an illustration of an emaciated Beckham in her underwear, sporting a sash that reads “Anorexic Fashion Icon” and holding a slice of pizza. "Our new Victoria Beckham thin crust only 2mm thin!!,” the ad reads.
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A spokeswoman for Beckham said in a statement, “It is highly inappropriate to trivialise such a disorder, and defamatory to be so thoughtless with a person's reputation in this way, therefore we are taking legal advice.”
Per the Daily Mail, the ad has been up for about three years and it’s not clear why it’s just now becoming controversial. "As the manager and on the behalf of all our staff and owners I would like to state we recognise how serious eating disorders are and would never make light the seriousness of people with eating disorders,” general manager Soni Sidhu said in a statement, noting that the Beckham image was found by Googling the word “thin.”
Nonetheless, a staff member at the restaurant tells the Mail that Sidhu’s owners are now planning to take the advertisement down — apparently realizing that using a grotesque celebrity cartoon to push its food is not a hill worth dying on.
• Victoria Beckham Considering Legal Action Over Takeaway Advert [Telegraph]
