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Betting/Bookmakers

June 09, 2020
by Seona Parker
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Bulletin: 20/3
Batch: 262
Reference: 35377
Product: Betting/Bookmakers
Advertiser: Paddy Power
Influencer:
Agency:
Medium: Radio, Television
Codes:
ASAI Code 7th Edition: 2.4(c), 3.16, 3.17, 3.19, 3.20

  • Advertisement
  • Complaint
  • Response
  • Conclusion
  • A television advertisement featured a well-known Irish actor walking on an empty
    racecourse. As he walks, he is joined by various people, some also well-known sports
    personalities, who represent Ireland in various ways. Some of the people are holding
    banners with statements such as “The Boom is Back” and “Beans don’t belong on a fry”,
    while others were dressed as construction workers and characters from Peaky Blinders.

    The main character of the advertisement stated:
    “Look we need to have a chat, neighbour to neighbour. This is for laughing at the way
    we say 33, and you can't even say Siobhan. For claiming Saoirse, Katie and Niall as your
    own and for your complete lack of soda bread. For ruining words like banter, now stop
    before you ruin craic. For it's coming home, lads not everything can come home. For
    chain pubs, the state of the pints you serve and for not caring as much as we do about
    Ireland versus England. Every year we get one chance, our horses winning big on your
    turf.

    On screen text: “Paddy Power proud supporters of the Irish Cheltenham takeover”.

    Two radio advertisements also featured the well-known actor and featured similar scripts
    to the television advertisement.

    Advert 1:
    “Look, we need to have a chat. Neighbour to neighbour. This is for laughing at the way
    we say 33, and you can't even say Siobhan. For ruining words like banter. For it's coming
    home. For chain pubs and the state of the pints you serve. And for not caring as much as
    we do about Ireland versus England. Every year we get one chance, our horses, winning
    big, on your turf. This march Chelteham's coming home.

    Paddy Power proud supporters of the Irish Cheltenham takeover. Over 18's. Please
    gamble responsibly. See dunlwey.net”

    Advert 2:
    “Look we need to have a chat, neighbour to neighbour. This is for laughing at how we
    say 33 and you can't even say Siobhan and for claiming Saoirse, Katie and Niall as your
    own. For clogging up our passport application system and your complete lack of soda
    bread. For ruining words like banter. Now stop before you ruin craic. For putting baked
    beans in a fry, for it's coming home. Lads not everything can come home. For chain pubs
    and the state of the pints you serve and for not caring about Ireland versus England as
    much we do. But every year we get one chance, our horses, winning big, on your turf.
    This March Chelteham's coming home.

    Paddy Power proud supporters of the Irish Cheltenham takeover. Over 18's. Please
    gamble responsibly. See dunlwey.net”

  • Five complaints were received regarding the advertising. All complainants considered
    that the advertising was offensive on the grounds that it was racist against English people.

  • The advertisers said that they sought to promote advertising campaigns that were daring,
    sharp-witted and on-the-ball as these were their brand pillars, alongside positioning their
    Paddy Power brand as the kind of friend with whom a person would converse with about
    topics raised in their sports and gaming advertising generally. They believed that it could
    be said that the public in Ireland and the UK recognised that their marketing campaigns
    contained a humorous and mischievous element, to the extent that their mischief was
    rooted in popular culture and news events.

    They said that it was never their intention to cause offence and they regretted the offence
    caused to the complainants in this instance, however, they did not believe that offence was
    a rational response to the advertising, nor did they believe the advertisement was racist to
    English people.

    They said that the advertising was created as a sharp-witted, self-deprecating piece of
    cultural commentary in the lead up to the Cheltenham Festival which ran from 10–13
    March 2020 and the advertising was fronted by a renowned Irish actor which stoked the
    friendly sporting rivalry between Ireland and England ahead of the Cheltenham Festival.
    They said that the underlying message of the advertising celebrated the arrival of the Green
    Army and the anticipated successes of Irish horses winning in Cheltenham at a time when
    the Irish were performing poorly and inconsistently in other sports compared to England.
    They said that each year at Cheltenham, one of the ongoing sub-plots of the event was
    whether more winning horses would be trained by Irish or English stables and that it was
    usually a close contest. They referred to the fact that Cheltenham’s own organisers, The
    Jockey Club, run a friendly competition on this matter each year during the Festival,
    known as the Prestbury Cup and that it was a much sought over accolade that celebrated
    the good-natured racing competition between both Ireland and England with the cup
    awarded to the Country with the most winners at the end of the Festival. They said that
    Paddy Power had sponsored the 2020 Prestbury Cup.

    The advertisers said that the advertisement featured a group of Irish supporters being led
    by the main actor as he lists some petty and annoying cultural irritations that added to the
    sporting rivalry between Ireland and England. They said that the advertisement
    culminated in a self-deprecating acknowledgement that the rivalry did not mean much to
    England by stating “for not caring as much about Ireland versus England as we do. Every
    year we get one chance…” which they believed reinforced the underlying message of the
    advertisement, which they believed could be seen to promote England in terms of its
    sporting successes compared to that of Ireland.

    They said that the talent chosen, together with the advertising’s tone and delivery, was
    crucial to ensure their message came across as tongue in cheek, celebratory, fun and
    humorous and not hostile. They said that the advertising was about the sporting rivalry
    between the two countries and that rivalry was at the very heart of all sports. They said
    that without rivalry, there could be no sport or competition and that rivalry was a healthy
    output of sport that released passion and galvanised people to cheer on their team or their
    nation and that sport, by its very nature, would always produce rivalries that unite people
    behind their team. They said that the advertising had not made hostile or antagonistic
    references to historical relations between Ireland and England. They also referred to the
    fact that several media reports had referenced that the advertisement had stoked the
    ‘sporting rivalry’ between the two countries. The advertisers referred to extracts from a
    press release they issued at the start of the campaign that included quotations from the
    Irish Actor, the Director of the television advertisement and from Paddy Power
    themselves.

    They said that prior to production of the campaign, they had tested the concept, approach
    and script with a qualitative consumer focus group made up of 24 participants of 25 to 45-
    year-old men who use a variety of betting apps (i.e. not all Paddy Power customers). They
    said that the response was overwhelmingly positive.
    They also said that they had entered into a sponsorship agreement with the owners of the
    Cheltenham racecourse, The Jockey Club, in 2020 to sponsor The Stayers’ Hurdle on the
    third day of the 2020 Festival and also The Prestbury Cup. They considered that this was
    relevant background information in respect of the advertising as the Prestbury Cup was a
    much sought over accolade that celebrated the famous and good-natured racing
    competition between both Ireland and England with the Cup being awarded to the country
    with the most winners at the end of the Cheltenham Festival.

    They said that the delivery of the advertising by the talent was crucial and that they had
    gone to great lengths to ensure the advertising came across as a tongue in cheek parody-celebratory and humorous as opposed to hostile or mocking. They said that the actor was
    specially chosen because of his credentials with comedic delivery and experience over
    other well-known Irish men, and was best known for playing iconic, light, charming,
    often-Irish humorous characters, was well-liked in Ireland and England and that he had
    been directed to deliver a tone that was light-hearted, to smile to camera, to wink and nod.
    They said that the opening scene was crucial in setting the tone, and that they exercised
    caution to ensure it was warm, invitational and light, with the words “Look we need to
    have a chat, neighbour to neighbour” were spoken at the outset, followed by a wink to the
    camera, to deliberately set a charming and friendly tone. They said that they exercised
    particular care to avoid referring to anything which might be interpreted as Anglophobic
    or as antagonistic references to the historical relations between Ireland and England. They
    said that any sporting occasion between Ireland and England brought discussion, debate
    and banter due to the unavoidable history between the two countries, including historical
    sports events. To avoid potentially offending viewers and to avoid any implication or
    expression of hostility, the script focused on well-known stereotypical cultural references
    throughout the actor had been directed to deliver each line with warmth, wit and charm.
    They said that the nature of the script had drawn on recognised truisms that rival fans
    might say to each other in the pub or in a social setting, for example good natured banter
    such as “you can’t pronounce thirty-three”; “you can’t even say Siobhán”; “the state of
    the pints” or “it’s coming home”. They said that they had avoided including anything
    which might be deemed to be malicious mocking and that the script had referenced well
    known erroneous claims by the press, which stirred up a lot of controversy at the time, that
    well known personalities from the entertainment and sports industries were British when
    in fact they are Irish. They said that each line of the script was deliberately chosen or
    edited to ensure the underlying message was delivered in a light-hearted, friendly and
    humorous manner and that words such as “Lads” were spoken to demonstrate the goodnatured tone. They said that the “it’s coming home” line was an amiable dig in respect of
    England’s ongoing ‘Football’s coming Home’ campaigns and that the parodic nature of
    the advertising and its tongue-in-cheek message was reiterated throughout with actors and
    well-known Irish men and women in the background holding signs emblazoned ‘The
    boom is back!’; ‘Angela thinks we’re at work’; ‘Beans don’t belong on a fry’; and ‘Light
    a candle for Ireland’. They said that they had taken care to ensure that all stereotypical references within the script to both countries were light-hearted celebrations of each
    country’s culture and not malicious mocking. They considered that the advertising had
    culminated in the delivery of a self-deprecating line “And for not caring as much about
    Ireland versus England as much as we do. Every year we get one chance…….”. They
    said that the television advertisement had concluded with a slow-motion finale, with
    Hadel’s ‘Zakok the Priest’ playing in the background, cut off by an Irish Olympic walker
    ‘bolting off’ into a speed walk, to further echo the spoof, disarming and fun nature of the
    advertisement. They said that the over-the-top finale of the advertisement was produced
    in this manner to further lighten the tone and disarm any notion that the advertisement was
    about anything other than sporting banter.

    They said that there advertising complied with the requirements set out in the 2019
    Gambling Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising, that they had contained a
    prominent responsible gambling message, including information in respect of Ireland’s
    addiction and problem gambling support services, Dunlewey and had complied with
    Section 10 of the ASAI Code.

    The advertisers said that their legal and marketing teams were cognisant of their
    obligations under the Code and worked closely with their agency and media to ensure the
    underlying message and tone of the advertising was compliant with the Code while at the
    same time meeting the objectives of their marketing brief. They said a lengthy vetting
    process took place with relevant stakeholders (including the agency and RTÉ) in respect
    of the script and that they had exercised particular care when referencing historical
    relations between the countries, in accordance with the ASAI’s reminder to advertisers in
    its “Six Nations” decision against Paddy Power in August 2019.

    They advertisers requested that a decision by the UK’s Advertising Standard Authority
    (“ASA”) from 2016 regarding a “Scotland Advertisement” be considered as they had used
    this decision as a reference point when they created and/or made edits to the advertising
    script given the significant similarities between the two advertisements. They said that
    the Scotland advertisement was a Paddy Power branded TV advertisement which featured
    a group of Scottish people singing about the fact they did not mind they had failed to
    qualify for the UEFA Euro 2016 because they could still bet on England to lose in it. The
    Scotland advertisement was the seventh most complained of ad in the UK in 2016. They
    said that despite the ASA receiving 220 complaints about the Scotland Advert being
    Anglophobic and racist, the complaints were not upheld as causing serious or widespread
    offence. They said that light hearted humorous references of relations and matters of
    public debate between competing countries was commonplace in sports and was
    something they regularly did in campaigns, in a light-hearted way.

    The advertisers said that the advertising was well-received and understood as light-hearted
    humorous reflections in friendly sporting rivalry between Ireland and England. They said
    that the tongue in cheek language used in the advertising and the context / background of
    its appearance made clear that they were not subjecting people to ridicule or exploiting
    them on the grounds of race. They considered that the fact that only five complaints had
    been submitted to the ASAI indicated the advertising was not likely to cause grave or
    widespread offence. They said that the advertising was extremely popular with both
    British and Irish citizens and that an immense level of goodwill had been shown to their
    brand as a result. They said that there was no indication that the advertising had caused
    grave or widespread offence, nor had they received backlash on social media or from
    activist groups. They also said that their core markets were the UK and Ireland, that this was where most of their employees were located and that it would not make sense for them
    to inflame relations. They said that the campaign had received a positive response with
    coverage in mainstream media and on social media. They also said that they have an
    internal steering group within their brand marketing team who supervise their branded
    campaigns and that given the importance of the advertising to our brand, they ensured that
    the steering group (made up of Irish and English employees) closely monitored public
    reaction to the advertising, which, they said, was a huge success for them from a marketing
    perspective, becoming their most successful-ever Irish ad based on social media
    engagement, online views (+10m) and TV rating performance before Cheltenham. In
    terms of television performance in Ireland, they said it achieved 472 TVRs, reaching 68%
    of ABC1 Males with an average frequency of 7.3 times, reaching508,000 ABC1 Males.
    They said that an independent Brandwatch report, commissioned by Core Media for Paddy
    Power, analysing the performance of the advertising on social media and news coverage
    between 21 February to 6 March 2020, found that positive sentiment in respect of the
    campaign was high in 69% of all mentions and shares, while 24% is of neutral sentiment
    (mainly news articles). They said that negative sentiment accounted for just 7% of the
    total mentions for this campaign and that the analysis was mainly driven within the first
    72 hours, while the conversation was at its peak.

    Finally, they said that it was not their intention to cause offence with the advertising and
    they regretted the offence caused to the complainants in this instance. However, they did
    not believe that offence was a rational response to the advertising, nor did they believe
    that the advertising was racist to English people.

  • Complaint Not Upheld.

    The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaints and the advertisers’
    response.

    The Committee accepted that friendly rivalry existed between countries in various sports
    and in this case considered that the rivalry between Ireland and England had been
    referenced in a tongue-in-cheek manner, taking account of the delivery and style of the
    advertising. While the Committee appreciated the concerns of the complainants, they did
    not consider that the advertising was in breach of the Code on the grounds raised and, in
    the circumstances, did not uphold the complaints.

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