Now she finds herself having to defend her Italian friend, Gabriella Goat, from attack by a human grown-up who really ought to know better.
The human in question, one Gabriella Capra, is also Italian, so she’ll be only too well aware that her name means Gabriella Goat in her mother tongue. It has always meant that and, given that Ms Capra is 40, she has presumably had plenty of time to come to terms with it. But she must be blessed with a circle of friends who are either preternaturally self-controlled or completely humourless because it was apparently only after Peppa went to visit the Goat family in Italy that Ms Capra began to be “taunted”, “teased” and “made an object of scorn”. Consequently she has decided she is owed €100,000 in compensation from Astley Baker Davies Ltd, the show’s production company.
Peppa Pig is insanely popular in Italy (and much of the rest of the world) so it looks like Ms Capra is the only one not smiling. Does she have any grounds for her argument? Not in English law, unless she can point to some specific goodwill in her name which Astley Baker Davies are eroding or exploiting. BrandSoup isn’t sure what rights you have in Italian law to “protect” your personal name, but we reckon Ms Capra would have to come up with some fairly cogent evidence that she’s suffered real hardship (and that it’s all down to Peppa, and nothing to do with having a somewhat amusing family name).
Ms Capra’s promise to donate the €100,000 to children’s charities may indicate she’s genuine about the hurt she’s feeling, but you don’t need to be Dr Elephant to figure it all sounds pretty cynical. After all, as a brand, Peppa has broken the 1 billion dollar barrier – she’s worth £600m annually, so Gabriella may simply be trying to get her snout into a very goldplated trough.
BrandSoup advises Peppa that the only sensible response to any claim of this sort is to fall about on the floor with your family, waving your legs in the air and oinking hysterically.
