Paddy Power (2017)

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Paddy Power is an Irish bookmaker founded in Dublin, Ireland, in 1988. The company operates a chain of licensed betting shops in Ireland and the United Kingdom and operates Ireland's largest telephone betting service. It offers online sports betting, online poker, online bingo, online casino and online gambling. It merged with Betfair to create Paddy Power Betfair with Flutter Entertainment on 2 February 2016. [1]

Paddy Power's "Always Bet on Black" ad (2017)

Controversy

The betting company Paddy Power has been censored by the UK advertising watchdog for promoting a "racist" ad featuring World Champion boxer Floyd Mayweather. The ad used a picture of a black boxer next to the headline "always bet on black" and ran in the London Evening Standard and Metro newspapers ahead of Mr Mayweather's one-off comeback fight against UFC fighter Conor McGregor in Las Vegas.

After receiving nine complaints, the Advertising Standards Authority stated that they considered that readers would be offended by an invitation to always bet on the outcome of a boxing match based on the race of a boxer. [2]

The headline claim had not made a negative statement about the race of Floyd Mayweather, and Paddy Power actually endorsed Mayweather to win the match. However, ASA considered that readers would nevertheless be offended by an invitation to always bet on the outcome of a boxing match based on the boxer's race, and a message that the boxing match was a fight between two different races.

The Idea Behind the Ad

Paddy Power defended the ad and said 'Betting on Black' was a roulette gambling reference as the fight was going on in Las Vegas. They also said it was a reference in the movie Passenger 57 when Wesley Snipes said,

Do you ever play roulette? Well, let me give you a word of advice: always bet on black.

They recognized that the headline referred to Mayweather's race, but said that it was not used in a despective, distasteful or offensive manner and that the overall tone of the ad was light-hearted and humorous.

Equality and Human Rights Commission chief executive Rebecca Hilsenrath said:

"Paddy Power have an influential voice and they need to think through the implications of what they say before they say it." [3]

Reference

  1. “Paddy Power”. Retrieved on January 10, 2021.
  2. Bond, David (Sep 20, 2017). “Paddy Power takes a blow over ‘racist’ Floyd Mayweather ad’”. The Financial Times. Retrieved on January 10, 2021.
  3. Mann, Tanveer (Sep 20, 2017). “Advert banned for saying ‘always bet on black’ before Mayweather fight’”. Metro UK. Retrieved on January 10, 2021.