The bookmaker claims that the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Locog) ordered outdoor advertising company JCDecaux to tear down Paddy Power’s latest advertising campaign.
It has instructed London law firm Charles Russell to seek a court order reinstating the hoardings, on the grounds that the Paddy Power campaign – part of its on-going ‘We Hear You’ marketing promotion -- does not breach legislation on advertising around the 2012 Games.

Egg and spoon

The advertisement proclaims that Paddy Power is the ‘official sponsor of the largest athletics event in London this year’, before revealing that the event referred to is an egg-and-spoon race in the Burgundy town of London, which is half way between Dijon and Lyon.
A Paddy Power statement said: ‘We pride ourselves on listening to our customers and what we’ve heard loud and clear is that LOCOG have got their priorities upside-down. It’s a pity they didn’t put the same energy into the ticketing and security arrangements for the games that they put into protecting their sponsorship revenue streams. We’re taking this fight to the High Court in the interest of our customers and of common sense.’

Locog joke

A spokesman for Locog told The Guardian newspaper: ‘We can take a joke, but as you would expect we had to draw the line at the provocative references to Locog. We also have a responsibility to ensure that no one thinks betting companies have any sort of official connection to London 2012. We have not seen any [court] papers yet and will reserve comment until we do.’