Paddy Power have found themselves in controversial waters again for a new campaign it had hoped to feature on the London Underground network. In the past the company has had two adverts banned by the Advertising Standards Agency, and the new ads were canned by Transport for London. The TFL were reportedly worried the latest campaign would cause widespread offence.
The two adverts this time are targeting women. Paddy Power were looking to encourage female players along to their paddypowerbingo.com website. One ad features a man trying to breast feed a child. The caption read, “Where have all the women gone?”.
The second ad showed a plate of junk food, snacks and chocolate instead of a dinner meal. The adverts were encouraging women to step away from the stereotypical ‘home territory’, and move towards playing online gambling, but the adverts were considered too close to the bone for some.
Paddy Power has pledged to increase it's spend to compensate for the loss of the London Underground sites. It has also set up a website – www.shouldthisbecensored.com – to encourage public debate on the adverts.