The Brazilian soccer star plans to sue a Chinese firm that has used his image to promote a brand of throat lozenges in TV ads.
BEIJING: Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo plans to sue a Chinese firm that has used his image to promote a brand of throat lozenges in television advertisements, local media reports said on Saturday.
The advertisement has aired regularly on regional stations and the main state-run China Central Television since Ronaldo visited China with Real Madrid in September 2003.
A representative for Ronaldo said the Golden Throat company used his image without permission and that the advertisement has cost him other valuable advertising contracts in China, the China Daily said.
Chinese lawyers are collecting evidence to back Ronaldo's claim that the advertisement was made without any contract, but Golden Throat denies acting illegally.
The promo with Ronaldo holding a packet of Golden Throat lozenges was apparently shot when the company invited him to dinner with other Real Madrid players in 2003.
Golden Throat paid Ronaldo $300,000 for photos and videos shot during the meal but did not say how it planned to use the material, China Radio International quoted Ronaldo's representative as saying.
Ronaldo was apparently unaware that his image was being used to promote the lozenges until another Chinese drug firm asked him to end his endorsement during discussions over a new promotional contract.
The striker may have missed out on up to seven contracts worth millions of dollars each in China because of the Golden Throat advertisement, the radio report said.
The Beijing Youth Daily newspaper said the poor quality of the television advertisement may also have damaged Ronaldo's image in China, and that many viewers doubted if the footage was really of him.
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