The French have represented the British as pot-bellied darts and snooker players in an advertising campaign just before the start of the Olympic Games. According to The Telegraph, the Eurostar posters, designed by Leg, a Paris advertising agency, feature spoofs of two Greek statues of naked men with beer bellies clutching darts and a snooker cue instead of a discus. The provocative and unacceptable way with which the French agency chose to advertise the trains has not been well received by many open-minded Greeks.
The posters encourage the French to take the Eurostar train to London for the Games. Eurostar, which is partly British-owned, is a sponsor of the Olympics.
The posters are the latest in a series that plays on French stereotypes of English culture.
President of Leg, Gabriel Gaultier, insisted that the Eurostar ads were meant in good fun and had been well-received, but Greeks have every right to be offended, given that lately our country is being attacked on every side.
He said, “They are a homage to English popular culture. The public awaits the next ads religiously, wondering, ‘What will they think up next?'”
Catherine Bayles, a Eurostar spokesman, said, “This new campaign has been created by French advertising agency Leg to celebrate Eurostar’s partnership with the London 2012 Games”.
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