They are the generation of children’s authors and illustrators who have grown old and lost their rights. They come from a time before J. K. Rowling, before Alcatraz-tight copyright laws and global merchandising, and as they near their dotage they have seen their beloved characters put to work advertising fizzy drinks, toilet paper and yeast spreads.

Earlier this week it was Michael Bond, bemoaning the fact that his creation, marmalade-loving Paddington Bear, was being used to advertise Marmite. Yesterday Raymond Briggs, author of The Snowman, joined Bond in complaining about the thousand unnatural uses that his character had been put to. The Snowman had suffered “crass exploitation” at the hands of marketing men hoping to “cast a charming glow over products which are so charmless”, Briggs, 73, said in a letter to The Times.

He said that “as a fellow sufferer (and beneficiary) of the commercial exploitation of a character”, he could sympathise with Bond.

Briggs complains that his iconic Snowman, with his soft curves and floppy felt hat, has been used to sell everything from fizzy drinks to fried chicken. “It is galling to find that the innocent character one has created for young children is being used to promote junk food and drink, and also to decorate the packaging of lavatory paper,” he said.

Authors from a time before Harry Potter were less conscious of the power that their iconic creations could wield, or their attraction to marketing men. J. R. R. Tolkien famously sold his characters for a song. Winnie the Pooh now belongs to Disney, which lately introduced a girl in place of Christopher Robin.

Amanda Craig, The Times’ children books critic, said: “The market has changed enormously since Harry Potter. People have got a lot shrewder. I remember when I was on the board of the Society of Authors and Pauline Baynes, who illustrated the Narnia books, got in a terrible state. She kept being approached by a Hollywood studio for the rights to her drawings. She was an elderly lady and she didn’t know what to do. She was the sort of person that some of the big marketing agencies and companies still go after.”

In December 2006, Briggs’s character from The Snowman appeared in a 60-second advertisement for the soft drink Irn-Bru.

Yesterday, the general manager of Snowman Enterprises, the company that manages the copyright of the 1982 animated version of The Snowman, called the advert “a bit of a Pete Tong” (a mistake). Irn-Bru obtained a licence to use the original soundtrack but not the original animation. So instead, they created their own version of The Snowman. This “affectionate homage” wore a beanie instead of a floppy, felt hat. He had a longer, pointier carrot for a nose, and a different scarf.

The £250,000 Irn-Bru ad shows a snowman flying through the night sky holding a boy, who is drinking a can of Irn-Bru, by the hand. But when the boy refuses to give him a sip, the snowman loses patience. He grabs the can and lets go of the boy in mid-air.

In the background, to the tune of the original soundtrack from the 1982 Snowman film, a choirboy sings: “Now I’m falling through the air/ I wonder where I’m going to land/ He nicked my Irn-Bru/ And let go of my hand.”

Although Snowman Enterprises admitted that “a payment was made” by Irn-Bru for the advertisement, and Briggs received a royalty cheque, Briggs, it appears, was not flattered by the homage to his Snowman.

Briggs said that in Japan, where fried chicken for Christmas dinner has become something of a tradition among the younger generation, The Snowman was used to advertise KFC. In December 2006, the chain gave away plastic Snowman plates and mugs with its meals.

Briggs’s letter to The Times followed one from Bond, published on September 19, in which he refuted claims that he had written the new Marmite ad featuring Paddington Bear. Dedicated Paddington fans were outraged at this abomination. “Whatever next?” they exclaimed. “Pooh and peanut butter?” “Desperate Dan tucking into spinach and ricotta pie?”

Bond said that he had not even been consulted over the advert.

Change of character

— Willy Wonka, from Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, appeared on packaging and in adverts for Nestlé’s Willy Wonka Candy Company

— Michael Bond’s Paddington Bear, pictured, famous for his love of marmalade sandwiches, tried Marmite for an advert

— A. A. Milne sold the Winnie the Pooh rights to Walt Disney in the 1930s. The bear features on everything from toys and clothing to mugs and theme-park rides

— The villain of the Star Wars films Darth Vader appears in an advert for Woolworths with Wooly the sheep and Worth the dog, the retailer’s brand characters

— The comic series Asterix was used to advertise shield, bone and wild boar-shaped crisps by French firm Belin and featured in Paris’ campaign to host the 1992 Olympics

— The controversial Golliwog from Florence Upton’s books was used to advertise Robertson’s jams on TV

Source: Times database

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