The UK Advertising Standards Authority announced its decision not to uphold a Paddy Power ad featuring FIFA President Sepp Blatter and urging him to leave his current post. A single complaint against the ad, which ran in the national press, was filed. The complainant claimed that it could cause “serious or widespread offense.”
In a nutshell, the ad, which was posted in The Guardian’s sports section, featured betting odds on the likely candidates for the upcoming election for President of FIFA. Furthermore, Sepp Blatter was shown holding a small piece of paper, which had the name of the winner on it and said “ME”. Text at the ad’s top read “JUST **** OFF ALREADY!” (Here it is important to note that the original ad contained the letters ‘f’ and ‘k’ of the infamous expletive.)
After receiving the single complaint, the ASA investigated the matter. When asked about the ad, the Irish gambling operator explained that it wanted to keep with the “distinctive voice” of its brand. In addition, the company said that it considered it important to reflect the general opinion of most football fans around the globe that it was time for Mr. Blatter to resign after the corruption scandal that was made public earlier this year.
Paddy Power admitted that the use of the F-word could generally be considered offensive by many. But the operator noted that this is why it opted for the use of asterisks to mask half of the expletive. According to the company, the ad was received well by the public. It was intended to reflect people’s sentiment regarding the ongoing corruption scandal in “a humorous and irreverent” manner.
In its ruling on the ad, the ASA pointed out that despite the use of asterisks the meaning of the word was quite clear. Yet, given the fact that it appeared in The Guardian, which is known to be oriented towards adult readership, the regulatory body decided that the swear word would be generally accepted as a “light-hearted comment” rather than as something that is intended to cause offense.
This is why the ASA cleared the ad as it had not breached the Harm and Offense section of the CAP Code and ruled that there is no need for it to be upheld.
This was not the first time when Paddy Power found itself in the middle of a controversy related to an advertising campaign for any of its products or services. Last year, the Irish gambling operator’s ad that featured South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius having his head superimposed on the body of an Oscar statuette became the most complained about one for 2014. A total of 5,525 complainants argued that the ad trivialized domestic violence and referred to people with disabilities in an offensive way.
