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Melania Trump language school billboards removed following threat from her lawyers

Melania Trump delivers a speech on the first day of the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Lawyers for Melania Trump have ordered that billboards that appeared in Croatia featuring an image of her be taken down.

The advert, for the Americki Institut (American Institute) in Zagreb, Croatia, used a picture of Mrs Trump and the words "Just imagine how far you can go with a little bit of English." She appeared to be making a speech and was pictured against an American flag, in a white outfit similar to the one she wore to give an address in which she was accused of plagiarizing former first lady Michelle Obama.

Mrs Trump's Slovenian lawyer Natasa Pirc-Musar demanded the billboards be taken down, according to The Associated Press.

A new billboard poster for the American Institute in Zagreb, Croatia
Americki Institut, Zagreb

The American Institute confirmed in an emailed statement that the adverts had been removed. In their place are posters with a tongue-in-cheek message referring back to the original: "Invest in your English and billboards. People love a good billboard."

The original campaign was very successful, American Institute spokesperson Ivis Buric told AP, because of the publicity it attracted. "We are very sorry that the billboards were misunderstood as something intended to mock the U.S. First Lady. It was meant to be something positive, to show her as a role model," she added.

"I'm satisfied with the fact that the school admitted that they violated the law and that they are ready to remove the billboards and (Facebook) ads," Pirc-Musar told The Associated Press. "We are still analyzing possible further legal steps."

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