Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner has promised the Ladbrokes-sponsored Danish FA that he won’t wear the Paddy Power pants he exposed in last night’s Euro 2012 defeat to Portugal in his team’s final group game against Germany.
Bendtner last night lowered his shorts while celebrating his equalising goal to reveal “lucky underpants” featuring the brand of the Irish bookmaker, in an apparently flagrant breach of UEFA regulations that only allow for the display of manufacturers’ logos on team kit.
With Danish FA sponsor Ladbrokes reportedly angry at the ambush tactics used by its rival, the communications director of the national football association told local Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet: “We have spoken to the player and he will not play in those [underpants] against Germany on Sunday.”
Bendtner himself, despite facing possible action from UEFA, feigned innocence, stated that hadn’t been aware he was breaking any rules by wearing the pants. Paddy Power is now offering punters the chance to win 100 pairs of the “lucky pants” on its blog.
Paddy Power, that tweeted out the above TV image of “Nicklas Bendtner wearing his Paddy Power lucky pants after scoring the equalising goal!” immediately after he levelled the scores at 2-2, recently appointed head of PR Ken Robertson to “head of mischief” to orchestrate more stunts, for which it circulated a brief to agencies last month requesting help with ideas.
The bookmaker also as part of its Euro 2012 marketing offensive erected a huge model of England manager Roy Hodgson as “Roy the Redeemer” on the white cliffs of Dover. It has also constructed a truck featuring a giant version of the vuvuzela horn that proved so popular at the 20101 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, in response to UEFA banning the instrument from grounds at Euro 2012, that it has been filming in various locations for use on YouTube.
The retail and online betting giant’s ambush marketing tactic mirrors that pioneered by online casino Golden Palace, which hired streakers emblazoned with its brand to interrupt televised various sporting events during the early 2000s, including the 2003 UEFA Cup Final, the 2004 Athens Olympics and the Open Golf Championship.
