As England continue to recover from the immense disappointment of losing to Argentina, a legal letter sent to the FA Has emerged
Supermarket chain Iceland were sent a cease and desist letter by the Football Association (FA) for their marketing stunt before England’s World Cup clash with Argentina. The Three Lions are still recovering from the heartbreak of losing 2-1 to the reigning champions in Atlanta.
As they mourn the defeat, it has emerged Iceland were handed a legal letter telling them to abandon a brief marketing campaign they ran before the match. The chain allowed three of their stores to be taken over by World Cup fever.
They renamed a trio of locations to ‘England’ adjusting the signage accordingly. The FA were apparently left unimpressed by the stunt, as the chain has claimed they were hit with a legal warning demanding them to stop the campaign and take down any material promoting it.
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The letter was received the very day Thomas Tuchel’s side took on the South Americans. Representatives of the FA are understood to have told the chain, customers may be led to believe there was a commercial relationship between the supermarket and the FA, when there was none.
An Iceland spokesperson said: “We are shocked and deeply disappointed that, on the day the whole country was getting behind England, the FA chose to send lawyers after us instead of celebrating the incredible support being shown for the national team.
“Our shopfront signage change was in three hometown stores of Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Jordan Pickford and was about nothing more than backing England and creating a bit of excitement for our customers and colleagues ahead of one of the biggest matches in years.
“What makes this even more extraordinary is the timing. Had England beaten Argentina, this letter would have meant us to stripping away our displays, removing our social media posts and ending our celebrations just days before a World Cup Final.
“At the very moment the nation could have been coming together to support England on the biggest stage of all, we were being told to take everything down. That’s something we find difficult to understand.”
Iceland also insisted there was no intention to suggest there was a commercial relationship between them and the England team. It also claimed the FA believed the image of the England team may have been negatively impacted by their stunt and that they were ordered to take down all material and submit a written confirmation that they had done by 4pm on July 17th.
Had England beaten Argentina to reach the final, the cease and desist letter would have forced Iceland into taking down their promotional signage before, what would have been, England’s first World Cup final since 1966.
Tuchel’s side have one more match in the USA, the third-place play-off clash against France. They face each other in Miami on Saturday, July 18, with the match kicking off at 10pm BST.
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