Adult rating handed to Paddy Power 'goal-line' ad

In the same weekend as Andy Carroll’s non-goal in the FA Cup Final stirred an ongoing debate, Paddy’s Power’s goal-line technology ad has landed itself an 18-rating from YouTube.

The 30-second ad is an irreverent take on the possible England football team’s behaviour while at EURO 2012 this summer and depicts Eastern European ladies posing in a provocative manner.

It concludes by proposing “goal-line” technology to ensure England’s footballers don’t “cross the line” while off the pitch and is a satirical take on the bawdy antics of top-flight footballers.

While this may sound innocent enough it’s perhaps the graphical depictions of ‘goal-line penetration’, see below, accompanying which has caused such a stir in YouTube towers.

As a result, web-surfers clicking through to the ad must "agree that this warning will no longer appear for content flagged as inappropriate." See the ad below and make up your own mind.

Paddy Power – Goal-line Technology

The ad is true to the controversial brand-voice that Paddy Power has adopted and follows the bookmaker receiving a flood of complaints for its blind football/cat-kicking ad campaign. 

Ever eager to capitalise on an opportunity to gain publicity Paddy Power has issued a press release labelling YouTube as “the fun police” highlighting that the piece had already had a six-figure view count.

A Paddy Power spokesman said, “This is political correctness gone bonkers and it seems that our censorship friends could do with some common sense technology!”