(Bloomberg) -- Italy’s communications regulator is fining state broadcaster RAI for “covert advertising” after it aired images of sneakers worn by actor John Travolta during the popular Sanremo Music Festival.
Travolta’s appearance at the festival last February got widespread publicity after the hosts coaxed the “Grease,” “Pulp Fiction,” and “Saturday Night Fever” star into an impromptu rendition of the Chicken Dance.
The Italian authority, known as Agcom, said Wednesday it was fining RAI €206,580 ($224,000), a sum 20-times the statutory minimum, according to a statement. “The violation ascertained concerns the hidden advertising of a well-known shoe brand,” it said.
The Sanremo song contest, a yearly Italy tradition since 1951, is one of the most-watched programs in the country every year, and regularly a source of political debate and clashes over the invited guests and the public money spent to finance it.
In its statement Wednesday, the authority said it considered the episode extremely serious, as the display of the product took place during a moment of high viewership, “and during the performance of a guest of clear international fame, with significant detrimental effects.”
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