Melania Trump threatens language school for using her image and slogan: ‘Imagine how far you can go with English’
The billboards have now been removed
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Melania Trump has threatened to sue a language school which used her image alongside the slogan "just imagine how far you can go with a little bit of English".
Billboards bearing the slogan and an image of Ms Trump giving a speech were plastered around the capital of Croatia, Zagreb.
But the posters have now been taken down and the school, American Institute, has issued an apology.
The First Lady, who immigrated to the US from Slovenia in 1996 to work as a model, speaks more than a "little" English, albeit with a strong accent. She met Donald Trump at a party in 1998.
Her Slovenian lawyer demanded that the billboards were immediately removed.
"I'm satisfied with the fact that the school admitted that they violated the law and that they are ready to remove the billboards and (Facebook) ads," lawyer Natasa Pirc-Musar said.
"We are still analysing possible further legal steps," she added.
Ms Trump has hired the law firm to protect her image, which has appeared on various products in her native Slovenia, including cakes, underwear and tourism advertisements.
Ms Pirc-Musar said that the Croatian school has apologised for the billboards, but said the statement also needs to be published by the Croatian and Slovenian state news agencies.
"We are very sorry that the billboards were misunderstood as something intended to mock the US first lady," Ivis Buric, a spokeswoman for American Institute, said. "It was meant to be something positive, to show her as a role model."
Ms Buric said the short advertising campaign turned out to be "very successful" because of the wide publicity it received both locally and internationally.
She added that the school intends to put up new billboards, this time without Melania Trump's image.
Additional reporting by AP
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments