A Tesco advert featuring a photograph of Mel B has been taken down after the Spice Girl complained.
The image of the singer, also known as Scary Spice, was used in a bus stop advert for the supermarket’s new Clubcard Plus.
The photo of Mel B, taken at the Brit Awards in 1997, showed the singer in a leopard print catsuit.
Tesco’s advert read: “Stop right now. You get 10% off two big shops a month for £7.99.”
The message was a play on words from the Spice Girls’ hit single Stop, which contains the lyrics: “Stop right now.”
Mel B posted an image of the bus stop advert on Instagram and wrote: “Can the CEO OF TESCO DAVE LEWIS PLEASE CONTACT ME URGENTLY. Thank you.”
Tesco said it has now removed the image from its campaign.
A spokesman for the supermarket chain said: “Here at Tesco we are really big fans of Mel B and were excited to feature her photo in our campaign.
“We had the authorisation to use this image, but we’re sorry Mel B is unhappy so we’ve stopped using it.”
The advert was part of Tesco’s latest campaign that features cultural references from the past 100 years for its 100th anniversary, with the tagline: “Prices that take you back.”
Other celebrities, including comedy duo Morecambe and Wise, have also been used in the campaign.
