Paddy Power stunt asks Chelsea fans to pose for a photo ‘to prove they’re not prejudiced’

By Rich Leigh on Sunday, March 1, 2015

Bookies Paddy Power often hit the mark with their intentionally controversial campaigns.

Today… I’m not so sure.

Here’s what @PaddyPower tweeted a few hours ago:

CHELSEA FANS: Prove you’re not prejudiced at the Paddy Power stand at Wembley today. pic.twitter.com/dzcTV7cjsM

— Paddy Power (@paddypower) March 1, 2015

In case you aren’t sure what this is in reference to, it’s alluding to a small number of Chelsea fans that refused to let a black man onto a Paris Métro train, chanting ‘we’re racist and that’s the way we like it’ with the wit of a two year old smearing shit on the fridge.

PP’s stunts are usually controversial whilst retaining a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour that appeals to its intended audience. That’s why all the Mumsnet-moaning and Twitterstorms in the world won’t affect the brand – actual punters just don’t care. They laugh along with the brand’s inside jokes, and more often than not, I do too.

But this? It doesn’t offend me; I’m of the Ricky Gervais ‘offence isn’t given, it’s something you take’ school of thinking. I don’t understand people that get worked up about this sort of thing. It just… isn’t as funny – or as biting a social comment, if that’s what they were going for – (they weren’t) as those behind it imagine it to be.

It is, though, a pretty depressing way for the people who’ve agreed to pose to make a few quid on a Sunday.