Bullet Business

Paddy Power has chosen to launch a viral ad campaign after the script was banned from airing on TV.
 
It has emerged that the company has got around its latest advert being banned from TV by simply posting it on YouTube. The on air push was set to co-incide with the Cheltenham Festival, one of the biggest sports betting events of the year for Paddy Power, and forthcoming World Cup.
 
The campaign, which features four wheelchair-bound people doing a runner on their bill at a curry house,  was rejected by TV watchdog Clearcast.
 
A Clearcast spokesperson, according to utalkmarketing.com, said that they were concerned about the “juvenile behaviour” portrayed in an advert for a betting company and that the advert could be seen as “offensive” in the way that the men with disabilities were portrayed.
 
The ad promotes the bookmaker’s Money-Back special bets, in which people can have their bets returned to them even if they don’t win, by showing characters in situations they wish they could turn back time on, reported newmediaage. It was also intended to promote rugby-based charity Hearts & Balls, which helps players who have suffered serious injuries, with one actor wearing a charity-branded rugby shirt.
 
Paddy Power spokesman Adam Perrin was quoted as saying, “As a brand we display a fun and irreverent look on life and those ‘ground open up and swallow me’ moments we’ve all experienced are certainly such occasions. While we can’t help to take back situations in life you wish had never happened, we can offer to help ease the pain at other times like refunding certain losing bets. It’s a shame that Hearts & Balls, a really worthwhile cause, won’t get the extra profile it deserves.”