Photograph by Stuart Grout
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ordered the withdrawal of a Paddy Power advert about the Oscar Pistorius murder trial in South Africa after a record number of complaints.
The ASA received an unprecedented 5,200 complaints over the ad which ran in the British and Irish press, which said:
“Money back if he walks”
Alongside the official complaints to the ASA, more than 120,000 people had signed a petition calling on the company to pull the controversial advertisement, which said:
Paddy Power please remove your offensive betting on the outcome of the Oscar Pistorius trial and donate any profits so far to a women’s charity fighting violence against women.
In a statement the ASA said:
We have today ordered that a national press ad for the bookmaker, Paddy Power be withdrawn with immediate effect. On the back of an unprecedented number of complaints, we are investigating whether the ad is offensive for trivialising the issues surrounding a murder trial, the death of a woman and disability; we are also challenging whether, in doing so, it 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. We are also concerned that the good reputation of the advertising industry may be further damaged by continued publication of this ad.
