Not for the first time this year, Irish bookmaker Paddy Power had ruffled a few feathers with its ambush marketing tactics. This time around it has raised more than a few heckles on social media over its planned use the billboard featuring the former Australian entertainer who is currently in prison for sex offences against children.
It is understood that the bookmaker was planning to use a mobile installation outside Lord’s Cricket Ground in London during the Ashes cricket test between Australia and England. Although the mobile ad didn’t actually make it to the grounds, it was photographed outside an industrial estate and the photograph was quickly posted to Twitter.
According to one UK website, Paddy Power then decided that to pull the planned ad as the “sentiment of the sentiment of the advert crossed the line and had the potential to cause offence.”
A spokesman told one website that “it’s not often Paddy Power make this kind of decision but in this instance we believe we made the right call not to run it. We can confirm that we will be destroying the advert and it will never be released in public.”
