Paddington Bear creator upset over its use in Marmite advert

The creator of Paddington Bear has criticised those responsible for putting the beloved childrens character in an advertisement for Marmite.

London, Sep 19 : The creator of Paddington Bear has criticised those responsible for putting the beloved children's character in an advertisement for Marmite.

Michael Bond says that he was not consulted about the advert, in which Paddington breaks a lifetime's dependence on marmalade sandwiches and decides he "ought to try something different".

Bond insists that the advert was a mistake.

The commercial has annoyed several fans who see it as a betrayal of the character's integrity.

And seconding the opinion of the fans, Bond too feels that the advert was a mistake because Paddington's characteristics are "set in stone and you shouldn't change them". The bear's fondness for marmalade sandwiches, often stored under his hat is "fundamental", he said.

Karen Jankel, Bond's daughter and managing director of Paddington and Company, agreed to the proposal from the Copyrights Group, Paddington's licensing agents, because she believed the advert would lift Paddington's profile and bring him back to British TV.

But according to Bond, the whole thing should never have happened.

"Now there's no going back. Paddington likes his food and tries anything but he would certainly never be weaned off marmalade," Times Online quoted Bond, as saying.

In a letter published in The Times, Bond, defended himself against allegations that he sold-out his best-loved creation.

He writes of an "ill-founded rumour that I was responsible for the script of a commercial featuring Paddington Bear testing a Marmite sandwich" and "that one of the reasons may have been that Marmite paid me a truly vast sum of money.

"I should be so lucky - particularly since I didn't write it. Although Paddington found the sandwich interesting, bears are creatures of habit. It would require a good deal more than the combined current withdrawals from Northern Rock to wean him off marmalade, if then," he wrote.

The advert, by DBB London, features the animation format in which Paddington made his TV debut in 1975. He finds Marmite "really rather good", before stumbling into a chain of unfortunate events.

"Paddington has always been inquisitive. Now he has tried Marmite. It's unfortunate if Michael's not completely happy but Paddington will always be associated with marmalade and our client supported our recommendation to make the advert fully," Nicholas Durbridge, of the Copyrights Group said.

Defending her decision, Jankel said, "From my father's point of view, he's the creator and wrote the books. The Copyrights Group are doing their job, looking to do what they think is best from the commercial point of view. I think Paddington is so strong that he will rise above all of this."

ANI