Manchester City and Norway striker Erling Haaland has reportedly commenced legal proceedings against Norwegian Air Shuttle, following a World Cup marketing campaign which featured a digitally altered aircraft sporting a blonde ponytail closely associated with the footballer. The accompanying slogan read: "We've never looked more Norwegian". The airline has reportedly argued that the campaign was simply a show of support for Norway's national team, while Haaland's representatives contend that it unlawfully exploited his distinctive characteristics to market airline tickets.
Whilst the dispute will ultimately be determined under Norwegian law, the case raises an increasingly important question for brands, rights holders and athletes alike: how much of a person's identity can be protected, even where their actual image is never used?
Protecting the person behind the brand
Unlike many jurisdictions, the UK does not recognise a standalone "image right". Instead, celebrities and athletes must rely on a patchwork of legal protections including passing off, trade marks, privacy rights, copyright, defamation and contractual controls.
Historically, passing off has been the principal weapon in disputes of this nature. Cases such as Irvine v Talksport and Rihanna v Topshop established that a personality with sufficient goodwill may prevent the unauthorised use of their image where it creates a false impression of endorsement. Crucially, however, those claims generally involved the use of an actual image of the claimant.
The Haaland dispute is potentially more interesting. The airline did not use a photograph of Haaland's face. Instead, the complaint centres on a hairstyle and visual cues sufficiently distinctive that the public allegedly immediately associated them with the player.
That reflects a broader commercial reality. Modern athletes are no longer simply recognised by their face. Their value increasingly lies in a collection of identifiable characteristics: celebrations, signatures, nicknames, slogans, hairstyles, voices and other distinctive features that have become part of their personal brand.
A wider trend: trade marking personality rights
In practice, many athletes and celebrities are responding by building increasingly creative trade mark portfolios.
Recent examples include attempts to protect celebrity faces, signatures, nicknames and even sporting celebrations. We have seen registrations covering everything from Luke Littler's face to Cole Palmer's moving “shiver” celebration and Matthew McConaughey’s voice. Marcus Rashford (through his company) also holds a UK registration of a silhouette performing his iconic celebration – could a silhouette of a celebrity with a distinctive, iconic hairstyle be next?
It remains to be seen how far these trade mark rights will actually help to combat these issues in practice, and questions remain as to the limits of this protection when dealing with digital replicas. However, having those protections clearly puts these personalities in a much stronger starting position (particularly compared to relying solely on passing off claims) and athletes and entertainers are increasingly viewing intellectual property rights as a way to strengthen enforcement options and deter unauthorised commercial exploitation.
Erling Haaland’s decision to start the new Premier League season with a new look, swapping his famous ponytail for a buzzcut, raises another interesting question: is legal protection undermined if a distinctive personal characteristic is abandoned?
Digital replicas are accelerating the issue
As generative AI continues to blur the line between reality and imitation, the commercial value of distinctive personal characteristics is increasing. Businesses can now recreate the look, sound or style of public figures without necessarily copying an existing photograph or video.
That has led to growing pressure for stronger legal protection. In its recent report on copyright and AI, the UK government acknowledged concerns surrounding realistic digital impersonation and indicated that it will explore whether a new personality right or digital replica right may be appropriate.
Whether or not Haaland's ponytail claim succeeds, the dispute illustrates the direction of travel. The legal battleground is shifting away from straightforward uses of a person's image and towards the broader question of commercial identity.
For brands, that means thinking carefully before building marketing campaigns around recognisable characteristics associated with a celebrity, even where no specific image has been used. For athletes and talent, it is a further reminder that protecting a personal brand increasingly requires a creative combination of trade mark registrations, contractual controls and careful enforcement strategies.
