The Olympic flame lighting ceremony in Ancient Olympia, by famous actress Thalia Prokopiou,
was used for a promotion campaign in China, which is about a new telephone machine. The holy flame of the Games, along with the simple but imposing picture of the head priestess in the area of Ira’s temple, was presented in a printed advertisement for a Panasonic mobile phone, urging consumers to buy it as a “bright choice”. What bothered Thalia Prokopiou is the fact that, while she has distanced herself from any commercial exploitation of her image in this case, some others used it in order to earn money and to increase their sales.
Thalia Prokopiou incarnated the horary role of the head priestess during the Olympic Games of Sydney in 2000, the Winter Olympics of Salt Lake City in 2002 and during the Olympic Games of Athens in 2004. Now she has submitted a complaint and a claim against the company, asking for a compensation of 2,000,000 Euros.
The top mobile company is charged with: illegal use of a person’s image without its permission, aiming at illegal property profit, infringement of personal data, personality infringement and infringement of the Olympic spirit.
