ASA clears Paddy Power over Sepp Blatter Election campaign

The UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), has confirmed that Paddy Power’s Sepp Blatter press campaign was not in breach of its rules regarding public offence.

Published in May, with Sepp Blatter contesting his presidential campaign, amid accusations of widespread corruption within FIFA. Paddy Power released a press campaign urging Blatter to “JUST F**K OFF ALREADY!”

The standards agency detailed that it had only received one complaint regarding offence at the campaign.

Paddy Power has maintained that the campaign was in-line with its distinctive voice and brand, which has been no stranger to ASA standard hearings. The bookmaker further detailed that it had added asterisks to lessen the severity of offence generated by the advert.

The ASA agreed, its ruling read: “We noted that the ad appeared in the Sport section of the Guardian, which we understood had an adult readership and frequently contained swear words.

“We considered that readers of that section were likely to understand that the ad was intended to be a light hearted comment on the ongoing allegations of corruption within FIFA, and in particular the controversy surrounding Sepp Blatter’s tenure as FIFA president. In that context, we considered the use of “F**K” was unlikely to cause offence to readers.”