The enormous popularity that Maneskin have acquired by winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 edition can also be seen from the sensational fake made in Latvia. In fact, an advertisement uses the Italian rock band’s look-alikes (not even too similar as you can see by looking at the picture above) to promote a fake Italian mozzarella, as the name “Formagia” suggests.
On the one hand, being involved in such an operation is a real confirmation of one’s star status. Such things have happened in the past to the likes of Queen Elizabeth II or former US President Donald Trump.
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In this case, however, the fake is twofold. In addition to the questionable use of the image of the Italian musicians, there is also the wink to Made in Italy which is too often used inappropriately for products that have little or nothing Italian about them. “Tik labi ka italija Formagia mokarellas siers padara visu labaku!…. pat saldetu picu“, translated: “Good as Italy, Formagia mozzarella makes everything better! …Even frozen pizza“, is the claim of the Latvian company’s campaign.
From a legal perspective, the use of look-alikes, if aimed at clearly recalling the image of a famous person for promotional purposes, is a violation of the right to the economic exploitation of the image and must necessarily be authorized by the legitimate owners. The Maneskin could, therefore, take legal action to ask for the removal of their image from the advertising campaign, as well as compensation for the damage caused by the unauthorized use of their image. So much so considering the context of an unfair commercial practice such as Italian sounding.