Paddy Power Oscar Pistorius Ad Gets Pulled
Thursday 27th March, 2025
Following a wave of protest against an ad featuring Oscar Pistorious, the South African Olympian, Paddy Power has been forced to pull the ad by the advertising watchdog, Advertising Standards Authority. With a record 5200 complaints, the ad has become the most complained about campaign ever.
The advertisement, which featured the face of Pistorious superimposed on a stature of the Oscar award, was deemed too offensive with the watchdog taking the "unusual step" of asking the company to pull the ad immediately. Normally, it allows the campaign to continue while it finishes its investigation into any breaches of the UK advertising code.
The record number of complaints could have been partly influenced by a petition on change which has attracted 122,000 signatures. The petition asks for Paddy Power to remove the ad and donate the proceeds from the promotion to a women's charity because it found the ad which reads "It's Oscar Time. Money back if he walks. We will refund all losing bets on the Oscar Pistorius trial if he is found not guilty," very offensive.
Paddy Power were promoting a scheme where they would refund all losing bets if the Paralympian was found not guilty in the trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The ASA is investigating whether the ad could be deemed offensive as it may have trivialized issues brought up in the murder trial, the death of a woman and disability.
The watchdog said that it is also looking at whether the ad "brings the good reputation of advertising generally into dispute".
"We consider the ad may be seriously prejudicial to the general public on the ground of the likely further serious and/or widespread offence it may cause," the ASA said in a statement published on Wednesday. "We are also concerned that the good reputation of the advertising industry may be further damaged by continued publication of this ad."
The ASA said that the ad should "remain out of all circulation in UK media" until it finishes its investigation, which is being fast tracked.
As the company is based in Ireland, it cannot investigate complaints about the ad that appeared on the Paddy Power website as it outside the purview of the UK watchdog.
The previous record holder for the number of complaints received was a KFC ad which featured call center workers singing with KFC chicken in their mouths and garnered 1,671 complaints.
A Paddy Power spokesman has said that the ad was meant to be a one off anyway and they ran it after the Oscars and in the Sun on Sunday in the UK. They say they did not have a longer advertising campaign that included this ad.
The campaign on change was also deemed instrumental in bringing the ad to the public's and the ASA's attention.
"Jean Hatchet [who started the petition on change] has run an incredibly fast-paced and powerful campaign on the site," said John Coventry of change. "The past 48 hours have seen a powerful outpouring of support for her story which has pushed the ASA to act."
By: Pete Lee.
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