Car hire company, Sixt, has caused a sensation in France by producing an advertising campaign which deliberately mocks the height of the country’s President, Nicholas Sarkozy. The posters are designed to persuade the rental firm’s customers to rent a Citroen C3 hatchback, which is a small car, by saying that people should follow the example of Mr Sarkozy’s wife, Madame Bruni, and get their hands on a small French model.

If Sixt finds itself in hot water over using the couple’s image in its new campaign, it will not be the first company to have done so. In 2009, budget airline Ryanair was sued for using an image of the diminutive Sarkozy and his 5ft 10in wife, with a caption suggesting that if Carla Bruni used the airline, she would be able to have her whole family join her for her wedding. Ryanair was ordered to pay £50,000.

Pardon, the French clothing firm, was also sued for using a nude image of France’s first lady on a bag, with a slogan suggesting that Mr Sarkozy really should have bought some Pardon clothes for her.

The height difference between the former Italian supermodel and her husband is a constant source of amusement for the press. She is often featured wearing shoes with flat soles when appearing next to her husband, whereas he tends to favour shoes with a bit of lift in them.

President of Sixt, France, Jean-Philippe Doyen, shrugged off the controversial aspect of the new ads by saying that they were simply meant as a bit of fun. He said that the car rental business needed a bit of humour injected into it after its recent difficulties.