Hairy no-frills airline ad makes Beckham snippy

David Beckham has asked budget airline easyJet to donate several thousand dollars to a children's charity after it used a photograph of him sporting plaited hair without permission.

Beckham asked Easyjet to make a 10,000 pound (16,000 dollar, 14,000 euro) donation after it used a photograph of the famed England football captain with "cornrow" plaits, The Independent said.

The tagline for the easyJet advert stated "Hair today, Gone Tomorrow," the newspaper said.

An easyJet spokesman, quoted in the article, confirmed that the footballer's management company, SFX, had written to the airline complaining about the use of the picture without its permission.

"They wrote us a very polite, friendly letter asking us to consider a donation," said the spokesman, Toby Nichol, according to The Independent.

Nichol said that the advertisement was a play on rumours about Beckham's possible move from Manchester United to European Champions Real Madrid, adding that there was "absolutely no threat of legal action."

But a spokesman for the footballer's management company told the paper they took a very serious view of such matters.

"We have a standard process of taking legal action when companies use images of our clients without our express position," the spokesman said.

EasyJet has run a variety of satirical topical ads featuring many celebrities -- none have been asked for permission -- the newspaper said.