December 13, 2013
MADRID (AFP) - A Spanish judge banned adverts for a sexy calendar by Irish budget airline Ryanair showing its female flight attendants in bikinis, prompting the company on Wednesday to vow an appeal.
Ryanair published advertisements late last year for its 2013 calendar, which shows young flight attendants wearing just bikinis and a smile. It said sales of the calendar raised 100,000 euros ($138,000) for charity.
In judging the appeal by a consumer group, the court in the southern city of Malaga ruled on Tuesday that the adverts treated the women as objects and were discriminatory, Spanish media reported.
"We have instructed our lawyers to appeal this ruling regarding last year's (2013) cabin crew charity calendar," Ryanair spokesman Robin Kiely said in a statement.
The calendar "raised over 100,000 euros for a Polish charity, the TVN Foundation, to help sick children in Poland," he said.
The judge banned the airline from using the pictures and ordered it to publish the judgement at its own expense, reports said. Court officials could not immediately be contacted to give details of the judgement.
"This case and ruling only relates to specific adverts run in November and December 2012 and has no effect on Ryanair's continuing charity work or our current 2014 cabin crew charity calendar," Kiely said.
