Mother's Day comes early for Yoko

Sean Ono Lennon leaps to the defence of his mother over her decision to allow Citroën to use footage of John Lennon in an advertisement.

Yoko Ono and her son Sean Ono Lennon.

Yoko Ono has been coming under fire this week for her decision to allow the French car company Citroën to use footage of the late John Lennon in an advertisement. Now her son Sean Ono Lennon, has been dragged into the controversy on Twitter. Defending his mother last week, he wrote: "She did not do it for money. Has to do w hoping to keep dad in public consciousness. No new LPs, so TV ad is exposure to young."

A further tweet said: "Look, TV ad was not for money. It's just hard to find new ways to keep dad in the new world. Not many things as effective as TV." Sean later added: "Having just seen ad I realize why people are mad. But intention was not financial, was simply wanting to keep him out there in the world." Later he tweeted in exasperation: "Now they say I'm abusing Lennon fans? Because I'm defending my mother from insults over an advert I had NOTHING to do with!?"

The 30-second advertisement sees the former Beatle chatting about the past, touching on the subject of nostalgia, before ending on the note: "-looking backwards for inspiration. How's that rock 'n' roll? Live your lives now. Know what I mean?" Quite how the lead singer of one of the most influential bands in history could need any more exposure we don't know. And as for Citroën, we like to think the singer would have been far more at home driving a - you guessed it - Volkswagen Beetle.