Bookies score gold with cheeky advert

There may not be an Olympic medal for cheeky advertising but Paddy Power would certainly be going for gold if there ever was such an event.

The Irish bookmakers has beaten the odds — and Olympic organisers who did not see the funny sign of its latest campaign which sought to associate the firm with “the largest athletics event in London this year”.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), who vigilantly police all advertising surrounding the Olympics so official sponsors of the Games will not get upset, had demanded that the offending posters be taken down.

The Paddy Power ads appeared on billboards around the English capital on Monday proclaiming: “Official sponsor of the largest athletics event in London this year. There you go, we said it (Ahem, London, France that is).”

The bookmakers said the sponsorship is of an egg-and-spoon race in the French village of London, located in the Burgundy region.

LOCOG instructed outdoor advertising firm, J C Decaux, to remove the Paddy Power posters from billboards around London.

But Paddy Power insisted its campaign did not breach LOCOG rules on advertising around the 2012 Games.

It pointed out that none of the official sponsors of the London Olympiad are betting firms.

Last night LOCOG’s lawyers informed the bookmaker that a decision had been taken to let the campaign continue to run.

“It’s a pity they didn’t put the same energy into the ticketing and security arrangements for the Games that they put into protecting their sponsorship revenue streams,” said a Paddy Power spokesperson.

The latest controversy comes after Paddy Power fell foul of the organisers of the Euro 2012 soccer championships when they persuaded Danish striker, Nicklas Bendtner, to flash a pair of underpants with the firm’s logo if he scored.