NEW YORK – Actor Lindsay Lohan has sued E*Trade Financial Corp for $100 million, saying a “milkaholic” baby girl who appeared in a recent commercial was modelled on her.
Lohan claimed the girl in the ad, also named Lindsay, improperly invoked her “likeness, name, characterisation and personality” without permission, violating her right of privacy.
E*Trade’s ad was shown during the February 7th Super Bowl, which according to Nielsen media drew about 106.5 million American viewers, a record for a US television programme. It is part of a series of ads featuring babies who play the markets.
In the ad, a baby boy apologises to his girlfriend through a video chat for not calling her the night before because he was on E*Trade. The camera switches to the girl, who asks suspiciously, “And that milkaholic Lindsay wasn’t over?” It then switches back to the boy, who replies “Lindsay?” before another baby girl, presumably Lindsay, moves into the frame and asks, “Milk-a-what?”
Lohan was ordered in 2007 to serve a day in jail, undergo an alcohol education programme and spend three years on probation after admitting to drink-driving and cocaine possession.