Sportsbet field advert gets Aussies talking

Adding yet more controversy to the political debate swirling around gambling promotion and marketing in Australia, local online betting group and Paddy Power subsidiary Sportsbet has set Aussies talking with its latest rugby-related advertisement.

The scale of the advert – painted on to a large field on the approaches to Melbourne airport for all arriving travellers to see – is astonishing at 90 metres x 170 metres, but it is the content that grabs attention in referencing the test matches being played between the Australian Wallabies team and the touring British Lions.

The saucy signature of Paddy Power marketers is all over the ad, which depicts a wallaby “cuddling” (some may have a different interpretation) a lion alongside the Sportsbet logo and the double-entendre slogan ‘rooting for the Wallabies.’

Literally hundreds of thousands of incoming travellers will fly over the field, which is owned by a horse retirement enterprise titled Living Legends, and its new commercial content over coming weeks of the Lions tour, and there are various organisations, politicians and individuals who believe it does not do credit to Australia or the rugby tests.

However, there are others who see the ad as provocative but amusing and typically Australian in its maverick and direct nature…judge for yourself by viewing an aerial vid here:

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