Member Article

Cult email movie fights back against England car flag backlash

A viral email movie, which shows web-users how to create an England car flag using a pair of chopsticks, has been popping up in inboxes around the world.The movie by Ling Valentine - Chinese born boss of Gateshead-based online car leasing firm LINGsCARS.com - aims to inject some humour into the health and safety debate around flag flying. Some police forces have called on football-supporting motorists to take care when flying England flags from their vehicles. In Hampshire, drivers have been warned that they could face an assault charge if a flag was to fly off and hit a pedestrian. Meanwhile the British Motorcyclists’ Federation (BMF) and the RAC have issued a joint statement warning motorists of the danger of flags coming loose. A spot check of the A-13 dual carriageway east of London showed an average of three fallen flags per mile according the RAC. The movie, which stars Ling’s sister, promotes her free DIY England car flags to the tune of Tony Christie’s ‘Is This The Way To The World Cup?’. It has been downloaded a reported two million times in just four weeks.Ling Valentine said: “My email movie is an attempt to inject some humour into the debate but I never imagined it would spread like wildfire across the world. I originally sent it to all my customers and friends and it has been forwarded to places as for as New Zealand, China and even to squaddies serving in Iraq. My sister in China is the star of the movie. I send a free flag and a pair of chopsticks to applicants, and they have to staple it all together, IKEA style.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .