UK Living ad sparks Kate Moss legal threat
Supermodel Kate Moss is threatening to sue UK Living over its poster advertising campaign featuring the strapline “Wouldn’t it be great if Kate Moss were fat”.
The reference to Moss is followed by the strap “UK Living – TV with a mind of its own”.
The women’s cable channel has admitted that the celebrity, whose thinness has been the subject of debate since her modelling career began, refused to give permission for the use of her name in GGT’s 600,000 campaign.
A spokeswoman for UK Living insists the strap does not make fun of Moss’s weight but, in fact, celebrates independent women.
“We are saying we do not care whether Kate is thin or fat. She still has a mind {of her own}. She is her own woman,” says Thompson. She adds that UK Living’s strategy of talking “to” women and not “at” them is reflected in the ad.
The dispute is now in the hands of lawyers and it is not known whether Moss will claim compensation. Moss’s lawyer, Gerard Tyrell, of Harbottle & Lewis, says the model is “awaiting a suitable explanation” as to why her name was used.
Other straplines include “TV as raw as a freshly waxed bikini line” and “TV as entertaining as the thought of men giving birth”. The campaign ends next week and there are no plans to withdraw the Moss ad before then.
