The organisers of the “Meet Us, Don’t Eat Us” campaign are considering going to court in a lawsuit against Keflavík International Airport for what they see as breach of contract.
As Grapevine reported, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and an Icelandic whale watching group had a contract with Isavia, the company that runs the airport, to have ads on display in the airport for the whole summer which advised tourists to go whale watching but to not eat whale meat.
Isavia has since asked both groups to review the content of the ad for changes, and to have them taken down in the meantime. IFAW spokesman Sigursteinn Másson was less than happy with this news, responding, “It would be very serious censorship if they went ahead and took down an ad we had a contract for. … I would like to believe that freedom of expression and respect for our contract is worth more than this. We stand by the contract and ask that Isavia do the same.”
Nonetheless, the ads have been removed, and now Sigursteinn is conidering suing Isavia for breach of contract, Smugan reports.
“We are considering suing, but the matter has not been decided yet,” he said. “This is a lot of damage for IFAW, and we naturally demand that the airport pay us for all our expenses.” Sigursteinn estimates that the entire campaign cost around half a million Icelandic crowns.
Isavia has still not given Sigursteinn any real explanation as to why they want the ads taken down, but they did cite their “ethical guidelines” – even though the ads had been up since April. “Where were these ethical guidelines when investment companies were advertising without criticism before the banking collapse?,” Sigursteinn asked rhetorically.
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