The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has revealed that an advert by Irish bookmaker Paddy Power featuring Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius attracted more complaints than any other one in 2014.
The advert referred to the outcome of a trial in which Pistorius was accused of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in February 2013.
Pistorius was eventually found guilty of culpable homicide and was handed a five-year prison term.
He was also found guilty of another firearm-related charge, which was not related to the Steenkamp case, and was given a three-year suspended sentence.
The advert, which appeared in the UK press and the Paddy Power website, offered people the chance to bet on the outcome of the trial, with the advert featuring an offer for those that place a bet.
The advert stated: “IT’S OSCAR TIME. MONEY BACK IF HE WALKS. WE WILL REFUND ALL LOSING BETS ON THE OSCAR PISTORIUS TRIAL IF HE IS FOUND NOT GUILTY. PADDY POWER.”
The published advert featured a picture of Pistorius’s face on an Oscar statue, an image in relation to the Oscars film award ceremony that took place in the US around the time that the advert was published.
The advert generated a total of 5,525 complaints, which is a record high for the ASA.
Complaints against the advert were upheld at the ASA ruled that it must not appear again in its current form.
An ASA spokesperson said: “The ASA banned this national press ad that offered incentives to bet on the outcome of Oscar Pistorius’s murder trial.
“The ad caused serious offence by trivialising the issues surrounding a murder trial, the death of a woman and disability.”
source : www.igamingbusiness.com
