Madonna not calling for H&M

Hennes & Mauritz clothing stores may have broken local laws when they telephoned customers using the computerised voice of Madonna, the designer of its new M by Madonna range. Hundreds of Hennes & Mauritz customers have answered their telephones to the greeting of 'Hi, it's Madonna', only to find that it wasn't Madonna calling but a computer simulation of the pop star's voice touting her new clothing line for the chain. Many shoppers were unhappy to receive calls to their personal telephones featuring a computerised voice advertisement from the store. 'You answer the phone, hear the message and then it hangs up,' 19 year-old Mia Jensen told 24timer newspaper.

'I didn't care for it and I felt really stupid when I got it,' Jensen said, adding she did not give the store permission to call her. H&M disagreed and say Jensen, as a member of the store's customer club, received an SMS asking whether she wanted to take part in a contest. By agreeing to take part, the store indicated that customers also agreed to receive information via their mobile telephones. But receiving information is not the same as being called by a computer, said Morten Weigand, attorney with the consumer ombudsman's office of the National Consumer Agency, which plans to take up the case. 'The company must clearly state what form of communication the customer has agreed to accept per the terms,' Weigand said.