Paddy Power pays footballer's advertising fine
Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner had revealed egaming operator's logo during Euro 2012 game.
Paddy Power has agreed to pay the 100,000 fine meted out to Nicklas Bendtner by European football body UEFA after the Danish striker exposed underwear carrying the operator’s logo.
In an official statement, UEFA described Bendtner’s conduct as “improper”, however the Irish firm’s head of mischief Ken Robertson said in response: “We don’t believe that Nicklas should be penalised for nothing more serious than wearing his lucky underpants which, in fairness, was only a bit of fun.”
A tweet from Paddy Power in which the operator linked to a blog post explaining their reasons for paying the “over the top” fine received 133 retweets.
Upon opening its investigation into the player’s actions, UEFA cited law 4 of the Laws of the Game, which states: “Players must not reveal undergarments showing slogans or advertising… A player removing his jersey or shirt to reveal slogans or advertising will besanctioned by the competition organiser.”
This is not the first time a Paddy Power advertisement “ or something seen as such “ has met with criticism. In January it saw an advert banned for using the image of footballer Luis Suarez, then under the age of 25, while the following month saw a separate advert investigated and subsequently banned by the Advertising Standards Authority over allegations of transphobia.