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Tesco remove Mel B ad following complaint from Spice Girls star

Amy Johnson
·Contributor
UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 04: Mel B visits "Extra" at Universal Studios Hollywood on December 04, 2018 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Noel Vasquez/Getty Images)
Mel B urged Tesco CEO Dave Lewis to contact her yesterday. (Photo by Noel Vasquez/Getty Images)

Supermarket chain Tesco has removed adverts featuring Mel B after the Spice Girls singer complained about the use of her image.

While Tesco have said they had been given authorisation to use the picture, following Mel B's public plea to CEO Dave Lewis on Instagram they have taken the ads down.

In a statement to ITV News Tesco said: "Here at Tesco we are really big fans of Mel B and were excited to feature her photo in our campaign.

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“We had authorisation to use this image, but we’re sorry Mel B is unhappy so we’ve stopped using it.”

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A post shared by Scary Spice Mel b (@officialmelb) on

It comes after the mother-of-three shared the advert on Instagram along with the message: “Can the CEO of @tescofood DAVE LEWIS PLEASE CONTACT ME URGENTLY. Thank you."

The advert for Tesco's new Clubcard Plus featured a picture of a leopard-print clad Mel B in the Spice Girl's heyday during the band's 1997 Brit Awards performance.

“Stop right now. You get 10 per cent off two big shops a month for £7.99. Thank you very much,” text accompanying the image read, playing on the group's hit Stop.

CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 11: Pop group Spice Girls: Sporty Spice Melanie Chisholm, Baby Spice Emma Bunton, Scary Spice Melanie Brown, Posh Spice Victoria Adams and Ginger Spice Geri Halliwell pose outside the Martinez Hotel in Cannes, during the 50th Cannes Film Festival, to promote their new movie 'Spice the Movie' which will be filmed in London in June on May 11, 1997 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Ron Davis/Getty Images)
The Spice Girl didn't seem impressed with the use of her image on the advert, which played on the band's hit 'Stop'. (Photo by Ron Davis/Getty Images)

BBC News reports that the image was purchased by Tesco via Getty Images with a contract signed by Getty and Mel B's agent.

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The ad campaign pays homage to cultural references from the past in light of the company's 100th anniversary. Other figures featured in the adverts include Morecambe and Wise and Casablanca's Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.