paddy power Archives

Editorial: I was unaware of this advertising campaign by Paddy Power until Mr Young from the Belfast Telegraph rang me to ask for our thoughts/observations. I now reprint the article form the Belfast Telegraph:

Kissing terrorists advert for Republic of Ireland vote condemned

The controversial Paddy Power billboard

BY DAVID YOUNG – 28 APRIL 2015
Gay rights campaigners last night condemned as “tasteless and irrelevant” a billboard portraying two IRA terrorists in balaclavas kissing and cuddling.
Positioned for maximum shock value outside the GPO in O’Connell Street – the headquarters of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising – the giant Paddy Power billboard features two well-dressed men in balaclavas kissing beside the IRA slogan ‘Tiocfaidh Ar La’.
The bookmaker is offering odds for a yes (1/10) and no (5/1) vote in the Republic’s upcoming referendum on same-sex marriage.
Terry McFarlane, a spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association (NIGRA), hit out at the advertising display.
“This advert is tasteless, irrelevant and unwise,” he said.
“The most offensive thing about it is that it portrays gay men as terrorists.
“I don’t know who they’re trying to appeal to – or what point they’re trying to make.”
A press release for bookmakers Paddy Power said: “Our latest betting on the referendum makes it look rosy in the garden for the YES camp – but don’t be surprised if the NO vote comes from behind to give us all a surprise.”
The NIGRA spokesperson also slammed some MLAs for not taking part in yesterday’s gay marriage vote at Stormont.
Several SDLP and Alliance Party MLAs did not appear to support their parties’ policies in favour of gay marriage.
At 47 in favour and 49 against, yesterday’s vote was very close, he said.
Had the missing MLAs voted with their parties, there would have been a majority of MLAs in favour of gay marriage.
While the DUP’s Petition of Concern would still have prevented the motion from being implemented, Mr McFarlane felt that a majority vote in favour of gay marriage would have sent out a strong signal that it was only a matter of time before gay marriage would be made legal in Northern Ireland.
“But unfortunately once again we are out of step with the rest of the UK,” he said.

When you look up the definition of advertising, you are tol that it is ‘the activity or profession of producing advertisements for commercial products or services.’ Indeed Chron says, that companies use advertisements as part of a marketing program to increase sales of their products and services. Advertising plays a different role at different stages of the marketing process — helping to raise awareness of a product or service, generating leads for a sales force or selling directly. Companies with retail outlets use advertising to make consumers aware of product availability and increase sales through the outlets.
So why am I highlighting this, well Paddy Power launched a new advertising campaign based around the marriage equality vote. It states in it advert that the Yes Vote is 1/10 and the No Vote 5/1, which I believe are pretty accurate figures.;
However where I take ‘odds’ with them is the inclusion of two men in balaclavas kissing in its advert, the apparent inference being that ‘gay men’ are terrorists. I find this advert to be tasteless, irrelevant as apart from the betting figures it has no relevant to marriage equality. We consider the advert to be really unwise, and hope that Paddy Power will reconsider the advertising company it has used, and indeed the brief that it would have given them.

No to Paddy Power – Tasteless and Irrelevant