Outrage as Diana film poster placed at fatal crash site in Paris

Updated
Outrage after poster advertising Diana film placed at fatal crash site in Paris
Outrage after poster advertising Diana film placed at fatal crash site in Paris

The decision to install a poster advertising the new Diana film next to the road tunnel where the princess died in Paris has been branded a "crass" marketing move.

The film poster, showing star Naomi Watts in character as Diana, Princess Of Wales, has appeared on a billboard advertising sign next to the Pont de l'Alma in Paris.

It was in this tunnel that the car carrying the princess was involved in a fatal crash in 1997.

The move comes as the new film opened in Paris.

Rosa Monckton, who was once a close friend of Diana's, told the Daily Mail she was outraged. She said: "I really don't have any words to describe how I feel about this cynical and shameless attempt to publicise a film that should never have been made.

"To have made a film so speculative and as this is disgusting enough, but to then advertise it on the spot at which she died is despicable."

According to ITV News, she added: "I cannot imagine that any company could stoop so low. It is a terrible intrusion into her memory, not to mention the lives of her sons, whose feelings are often forgotten in these stories. I would expect them to take it down right now."

In fact, the company who placed it there has said it was not a conscious decision, and removed the posters on Monday afternoon, reports Deadline.com.

Advertising agency JCDecaux removed them at the request of French distributor Le Pacte.

A spokesman at Le Pacte told Deadline.com that exact locations of poster are not hand picked in a campaign, rather are part of perhaps thousands in a global network. The Place de L'Alma placement was therefore explained as "a coincidence".

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