England footballer Terry on cigarette packets in India

Zeenews Sports Bureau

London: An angry England and Chelsea football skipper John Terry is set to take legal action against the Indian government agency over the anti-smoking pictorial warnings created by the Directorate of Visual Publicity (DAVP) for use on cigarette packets in India. Terry’s managers were livid after coming across a slightly blurred image of the footballer’s face on a cigarette packet that has appeared as part of anti-smoking pictorial warnings. The anti-smoking warning created by DAVP and approved by the Indian health ministry was released last year. Taking the view of experts in analysing the blurred image, Keith Cousins of Elite Management, the footballer’s managers, said: “We have reviewed this matter with our client and have today instructed solicitors to take appropriate action.” However, DAVP additional director-general K S Dhatwalia said it was “not clear” how the image made it to the pictorial warning. “We sent the creative to the health ministry and they then cleared it and circulated it,” he said. “But how Terry’s picture got to be used is not clear.” “We realised there was some confusion about one of the warnings and we immediately issued a clarification in November. The creative came to us from DAVP and we released it after due clearances. We are not responsible for pictures that may have been used by DAVP and cannot say whether it is the footballer,” said another official. Government advertising departments have landed in trouble in the past for using “cut-and-paste” images taken from elsewhere. With Agency Inputs