Not long to go ...
Not long to go ...
Pamplona City Hall has rejected the proposal from Budweiser, the American beer brewery, to film an advertising commercial with the running of the bulls. The company had hoped to arrange a running of the bulls over the classic stretch in December. According to reports in today’s local Navarra newspaper –“Diario de Navarra”, the production company in charge of making the TV commercial had requested permission from Pamplona City Hall to use the stretch of the run during three days. On one of those days the proposal was to use six fighting bulls to make a run over the course, just as if it were a normal Sanfermin running of the bulls. On the other two days just the bell-oxen were going to be used, when the filming would supposedly have centered more on the runners taking part. It was planned to put out the commercial in April, 2007 during the Super bowl - the final of the American football league. The City Hall, according to the newspaper report, has decided not to accept the proposal in order “to protect the running of the bulls” as they feel that its image could be damaged by being exposed to commercials in this way. In spite of the “flexibility” shown by the production company who were ready to accept just “one or two streets”, instead of the whole length of the course, the proposal was denied. In addition, the production company was ready to cover all costs but City Hall also emphasized that there were also “logistical difficulties” as it would have been a complex business trying to organize a running of the bulls with all its parameters right in the heart of December.
