Advertising on Remembrance Day? – perhaps not!
12-11-2009
Remembrance day is the day we observe a two minute silence at 11 a.m. to remember all those who died in the Great War.
However, in Manchester in 1938 Captain Michelmore had been waiting for the winds to drop as he was under contract to the pea manufacturer, Batchelor, to advertise their product for an agreed number of hours in his biplane trailing a banner stating ‘Eat Bachelor’s Peas’. At mid-morning on 11th November 1938 the winds finally dropped and the clouds cleared to reveal a sunny sky; perfect for his task.
Unfortunately, he had forgotten the fact that at the stroke of eleven a crowd in the centre of Salford would lower their heads and remain silent to commemorate the Armistice. There he was, overhead, with engines roaring displaying his banner. Less than minutes later Batchelor’s office telephones were jammed with complaints. An action for defamation and breach of contract followed. The case set a precedent for recoverability of damages in breach of contract cases which remains good law to this day.
Jane
