Never a brand to adopt a conservative approach to its advertising style, Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has received yet another slap on the wrist from an advertising watchdog following its highly controversial stunt in July which made light of the immigrant crisis in Calais.
Paddy Power ran a series of outdoor advertisements to coincide with the wave of illegal immigrants boarding lorries in order to gain entry into the United Kingdom, claiming that immigrants should "jump in the back" providing they were good at sport.
"Immigrants, jump in the back! (But only if you're good at sport!" read the ads, coupled with pictures of famous British sports stars who were born outside of England such as Jamaican-born footballer Raheem Sterling and Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah, who was born in Somalia.
![paddy power calais lorry banned]( "Paddy Power sought controversy with this campaign in July")
The marketing stunt was deemed inappropriate by the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) and was subsequently banned after receiving a number of complaints. Now, The Guardian has claimed to have seen a draft ruling from the ASAI disclosing three guidelines that Paddy Power was said to have broken, relating to causing general offence, being offensive on grounds including race and in relation to sensitivity about diversity.
Paddy Power defended its campaign on the grounds that it regularly coordinated stunts that it described as "edgy, humorous and engaging" and that, due to it mainly being distributed via social media, its intended audience would be receptive to the "mischief" element behind the ads.
The ASAI, while acknowledging that Paddy Power social followers would understand that the campaign was intended as humorous, claimed that it "was nevertheless inappropriate for advertisers to refer to vulnerable groups, in a manner that highlighted their current high profile difficulties, in marketing communications merely to attract attention.
In August, both Paddy Power agreed a multi-billion pound merger with Betfair in order to create one of the world's largest online gambling businesses.
Paddy Power ran a series of outdoor advertisements to coincide with the wave of illegal immigrants boarding lorries in order to gain entry into the United Kingdom, claiming that immigrants should "jump in the back" providing they were good at sport.
"Immigrants, jump in the back! (But only if you're good at sport!" read the ads, coupled with pictures of famous British sports stars who were born outside of England such as Jamaican-born footballer Raheem Sterling and Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah, who was born in Somalia.
Paddy Power defended its campaign on the grounds that it regularly coordinated stunts that it described as "edgy, humorous and engaging" and that, due to it mainly being distributed via social media, its intended audience would be receptive to the "mischief" element behind the ads.
The ASAI, while acknowledging that Paddy Power social followers would understand that the campaign was intended as humorous, claimed that it "was nevertheless inappropriate for advertisers to refer to vulnerable groups, in a manner that highlighted their current high profile difficulties, in marketing communications merely to attract attention.
In August, both Paddy Power agreed a multi-billion pound merger with Betfair in order to create one of the world's largest online gambling businesses.