Jasper Pääkkönen lost the kalsari round. The actor plans to appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal.
Actor Jasper Pääkkönen lost the legal battle against Lähde & CO Oy. Pääkkönen himself owns 2.5 percent of the company in question.
Pääkkönen appeared in a trouser advertisement for the company’s The Other Danish Guy brand. In Pääkkönen’s opinion, such an ad was not agreed upon in the brand ambassador contract he signed with the source. The advertisement was, among other things, on the cover of Helsingin Sanomat and on television.
That’s how things went
CEO of Lähde & CO Oy Tommi Lähde asked Pääkkö via Whatsapp for podcast recordings in winter 2021. Lähde sent Pääkkönen previous episodes of the podcast to listen to and asked if Pääkkö would be interested in being a guest.
In the spring, the two also discussed the matter over the phone. The subject of the podcast episode was agreed responsibility and the protection of fish stocks, which are important values for Pääkkönen. The source had said that the recordings would last approximately 45 minutes.
The source told Pääkkönen over the phone that each interviewee will be photographed wearing The Other Danish Guy boxers. The picture in question was intended to be used as advertising material for the podcast on the podcast’s website.
Tommi Lähde owns Lähde & CO Oy. Evening newspaper
According to the court documents, Pääkkönen had inquired in the phone call if he should start going to the gym if he was photographed in his underwear. Pääkkönen had also considered the possibility that the images would start to spread on the internet more widely than just within the scope of the podcast page.
The source had replied to Pääkkönen that it was a quick shoot. He had also given Pääkkönen the opportunity to wear a t-shirt during filming.
Pääkkönen is said to have thought that no one would find the podcast site and that it would have such a small target audience, around a thousand listeners, that the images would not be visible to the general public.
Boxers had been sent to Pääkkönen by mail.
Shooting date
The podcast recordings took place at the office of The Other Danish Guy brand in the summer of 2021. A make-up artist was hired for the main character, who fixed his hair. Pääkkönen had been shown underwear packaging facilities and a photography studio where underwear photos would be taken.
Pääkkönen demanded damages of 300,000 euros from the company in return for an unjustified advantage. Henri Kärkkäinen
The photographer told Pääkkönen that the photo will be on the front page of Helsingin Sanomat. Pääkkönen had understood that it would only be a marketing photo of the podcast for the website and agreed to be in front of the camera. After this, Lähde and Pääkkönen recorded the episode. At the end of the recording, Pääkkönen had stressed that he wants full control over the content of HS’s advertisement, and that he also wants to decide the image himself.
At this point, Pääkkönen didn’t know that the pictures and video would be used, for example, on television and social media.
TV commercial
Pääkkönen had watched a James Bond movie on TV, in which a familiar character had appeared during the commercial break. He saw several ads of himself wearing boxers. According to the court, commercials made about Pääkkö were shown as many as 80 times a day.
During the recording break, video footage of Pääkkösen was shot in the makeup booth and in the underwear shoot. The videos in question had been used in TV commercials.
Pääkkönen, who was in shock, had contacted both the photographer and Lähte. He said he was betrayed. Pääkkönen has said that he has received messages from other people in the entertainment industry about how he has agreed to show his boxers on TV.
Pääkkönen plans to appeal the matter to the Court of Appeal. Henri Kärkkäinen
Pääkkönen demanded large compensations for advertisements that he had not promised. The actor complained about the ads and eventually they stopped showing them.
The court finally decided that the lawsuit filed by Pääkkönen will be dismissed, because Pääkkönen has been aware of the production of marketing material under the guise of a brand ambassador contract.
Pääkkönen is obliged to pay court costs of 84,140 euros and compensation of 14,381 euros. In addition, Pääkkönen has to compensate the managing director Tommi Lähti 2,827 euros in litigation expenses and the CFO 2,827 euros in litigation expenses.