Irish bookmakers Paddy Power, renowned for their risqué and below-the-belt advertising campaigns, have drawn attention to the dodgy image of cycling by staging a sneaky stunt at the finish line of the Irish stages of the Giro d’Italia cycle tour.
Setting up a “Clean Urine Swap Stand” at the finish line, Paddy Power literally offered finishing competitors a “clean” “urine” sample in case the race organizers wanted to do a spot check. With a history as dirty as cycling’s, this was bound to crop up eventually. Unfortunately there is no data on whether the replacement samples were clean or not, but we’d like to think that, in the event that they did check the samples, dirty cyclists would discover that cheating on their cheating really doesn’t pay…
This, of course, is much tamer than their previous stunt, where the controversial bookie offered odds on the outcome of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial, complete with an ad campaign. After a record number of complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority, the campaign was pulled, but it seems that that experience hasn’t dulled Paddy Power’s appetite for controversy.
In the meantime, we await their next stunt with fear and trepidation. We hope it’s as sharp as this one!