Norwegian striker Erling Braut Haaland has filed a lawsuit against airline Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA over the alleged unauthorised use of his identity and brand in a World Cup marketing campaign.
Haaland’s lawyer, Thomas Hagen of law firm Schjødt, confirmed that legal proceedings had been filed on behalf of the Manchester City forward and York Promotions Ltd.
“We can confirm that, on behalf of York Promotions Ltd. and Erling Braut Haaland, we have filed a lawsuit against Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA,” Hagen said in an email to VG.
He said the case concerns the airline’s alleged “unlawful use of Haaland’s identity and brand” in its marketing of flight tickets during the World Cup.
Details of the lawsuit have not been made public. However, Norwegian has deleted social media posts connected to the campaign, including one featuring a photograph of an aircraft altered to include Haaland’s distinctive former blonde hairstyle and ponytail. The airline captioned the post, “We’ve never looked more Norwegian.” The image was also shared on TikTok before being removed.
Norwegian confirmed to VG that it had received the lawsuit but described the legal action as surprising. “We’ve received a lawsuit that we find baffling,” said Eivind Hammer Myhre, a press spokesperson for the airline. Myhre said Norwegian had been among those supporting the Norwegian national team during the summer and argued that the posts were spontaneous reactions to social media trends.
“Like almost all of Norway, we joined in cheering for the national team this summer through a few spontaneous posts based on social media trends,” he said.
The airline said it believed the posts should be viewed in that context and expressed disappointment that its support for the national team had resulted in legal action.
“It is unfortunate that these cheers have been met with a lawsuit, but we hope for a sensible dialogue so that we may continue to cheer for our shared sports heroes in the future,” Myhre said.
Haaland’s legal team has declined to comment further on the case for now.
