Dutch mini-dress women 'traumatised'

The two Dutch women arrested in the orange dress ambush-marketing saga were "very traumatised" by the experience, their lawyer said on Thursday.

"They were very traumatised; they were treated by bullies," Kobus Lowies said.

The two, Barbara Castelein and Mirthe Nieuwpoort, appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Wednesday on charges related to the South African Merchandise Marks Act.

Fifa accused them of having been sent by brewer Bavaria to orchestrate an ambush marketing campaign at the World Cup match between the Netherlands and Denmark at Soccer City on Monday.



Fifa on Thursday referred queries to the police.

"The matter is now under criminal investigation, and the South African Police Service is proceeding as per the normal legislation," it said.

Fifa defended its decision to charge the two, pointing out that it did not charge any of the South African women wearing the orange dresses, apparently because they were not behind the orchestration of the campaign.

"In this case it has surfaced that at least two co-ordinators were flown in from the Netherlands to organise this ambush activity. They hired innocent local girls and devised a strategy," the Fifa media desk said.

This included training the group of local girls before the match.

Also, the two organisers' strategy included "disguising them as Danish fans (covering their orange dresses) and using a decoy group to divert the attention of Fifa and safety and security authorities to another area while the big group entered the stadium through another site, and then compelling them to lie to the police about the organisers' involvement in the activity".

"They also obtained tickets from unauthorised sources," said Fifa.

The two Dutch nationals were arrested after 36 women, all dressed in the same orange dresses, were taken in for questioning by the police.

The dresses were handed out in Bavaria gift packs in the Netherlands before the World Cup. - Sapa