Ottmar Hitzfeld as involuntary beer ambassador

As part of the Eichhof Retro campaign, the brewery, which belongs to Heineken, is advertising on social media with old photos, accompanied by sentences that use "The beer from the time when..." to refer to the retro beer launched in 2017. Eichhof Retro is brewed with a yeast that was used in the 1970s. The label design is also based on the Eichhof original from that time.

What caught the eye of Schweiz am Sonntag: One of the photos shows cheering FC Luzern footballers, accompanied by the sentence: "The beer from the time when footballers still made real waves". Clearly visible on it: Ottmar Hitzfeld, who played for the Lucerne club in 1983 and 1984 and ended his career as a footballer there.

Hitzfeld, who abstained from alcohol as an active soccer player and rarely drinks any today, knows nothing about the advertising campaign.

In response to an inquiry from Schweiz am Sonntag, Heineken states that it requested the copyright via the corresponding image database, received no response and consequently used the image in a one-off post. Company spokesman Urs Frei admits that the process was "not 100 percent correct" and that the post was therefore deleted.

No consent was obtained from any of the players shown. However, this would be absolutely mandatory for advertising with historical images, as attorney Rena Zulauf, lecturer for media and communication law, explains to Schweiz am Wochenende: "The persons depicted must agree that their image is used to advertise a product or service. In such cases, it is therefore important not only to clarify the copyright, but also to obtain the consent of the persons shown in the photos.

According to Zulauf, Hitzfeld could claim a compensation payment of several thousand francs and also claim a profit levy - should he be able to show that Eichhof's profits were increased as a result of his image.

The agency responsible for the advertising presence at the launch in April was Jung von Matt/Limmat. (hae)