Dropping across our desks this morning was a report that bookmaker Paddy Power has just had its latest television ad banned by TV advertising regulator, Clearcast.

Who cares we hear you ask? 

Well, you’d have a point – we’ve never met anyone who’s got rich from betting – or at least anyone with their knees still intact.  It’s all a bit of a dodgy industry.  Anyway, putting our own health at risk, we thought we’d make a comment about the ad. 

Basically the commercial’s been banned because it is likely to cause ‘widespread offence’ as well as being ‘offensive’ in the way it portrayed men in wheelchairs. Hmm, is this true or is it the politically-correct brigade jumping on the advertising bandwagon and being hypercritical?

Judge for yourself and watch the ad below

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direct

Our view? It’s just not that good an ad.  It’s not particularly clever and if it was four able-bodied men then it wouldn’t have even been made. 

With that in mind, then it stands to reason that it is only the addition of the wheelchairs which has given the ad a sort of cache and urban cool. Should disability be used to make an ad hip and chic?  No.

We’re not part of the politically-correct brigade at Mobility Compare.  We couldn’t really give a damn about it.  We’re simply more interested in helping people have a better quality of life, especially if they have a disability.

However in this instance we need to make our point that using disability to attach glamour, urban chic and cool to an ad is patronising at best, opportunist at worst. 

Basically, it’s a crap ad.  What do you think?