The advertising watchdog has cleared a campaign by bookmaker Paddy Power that called on Fifa president Sepp Blatter to “f**k off”, ruling that it was unlikely to cause widespread offence.
The national press ad, which ran in the sports section of the Guardian, featured the odds on the candidates to become the next president of football’s world governing body.
An image showed Blatter, who at the time was facing allegations of corruption at Fifa, holding up a a piece of paper which said “me”. The ad had the headline: “Just f**k off already!”.
The Advertising Standards Authority received a complaint that the expletive was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.
Paddy Power, which has a history of controversial marketing including running the most complained-about ad of last year offering money back if Oscar Pistorious got off his murder trial, said the campaign was in keeping with the brand’s “distinctive voice”.
The Irish bookmaker said that the ad reflected the “overwhelming sentiment” felt by fans that Blatter should resign, pointing out iy had also chosen a less offensive way of writing the swearword using asterisks.
The Guardian said that it pre-vetted the ad and decided that the adult readership of its sports pages were “highly unlikely” to find it offensive.
It said the sports section “frequently” contained swearwords and that the use of the F-word was for comic effect.
The ASA agreed and cleared the campaign of any breach of the advertising code relating to harm and offence.
“We considered that readers of that section were likely to understand that the ad was intended to be a lighthearted comment on the ongoing allegations of corruption within Fifa, and in particular the controversy surrounding Sepp Blatter’s tenure as Fifa president,” the ASA ruled.
“In that context, we considered the use of “f**k” was unlikely to cause offence to readers.”
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