Update: Paddy Power transphobic ad no longer to be screened

February 23rd, 2012

[Image <http://bit.ly/AvRHek> ]

Further to my post last Sunday
<http://www.birdofparadox.net/blog/?p=10654> about the transphobic ad
by Paddy Power, the following statement has today been issued by
Clearcast, the NGO which pre-approves most British television
advertising:

    Last week we approved a tv ad for Paddy Power featuring references
to transgendered people. When making our decision to approve the ad,
we took into account the fact that the advertiser had sought a view
from the Beaumont Society (a body run by and for those who cross dress
or are transsexual) which did not find the script idea offensive.

    However following a number of complaints over the last few days,
it appears that the ad has caused offence and in consultation with
broadcasters, it has been decided that the ad should no longer run on
their TV or VoD services in its current format. We regret offence that
may have been caused.

While this news is very welcome, the damage has been done and it
remains to be seen if the withdrawal of the advert on its own is an
adequate response to what may now be a potentially dangerous situation
for any woman, trans* or cis, who attends the event. The advert has
been screened, it’s ‘out there’ now with all its faults; additionally,
Paddy Power’s response
<http://blog.paddypower.com/2012/02/23/breaking-news-paddy-power-trans...>
seems to come from a position of petulant unrepentance, as much as
from unexamined cis privilege.

As I read it, the gist of the company’s statement seems to be that the
number of hits the video has received on YouTube is sufficient
justification for its transphobia. Furthermore, its reliance on The
Beaumont Society “for feedback on the script” is puzzling. Personally,
I’m not at all convinced that it’s the “leading UK transgender group”;
I’m not sure what that even means, let alone whether there is such a
thing. I’d like to know who suggested Beaumont, and why – and why
Paddy Power didn’t consult with any other group. At the very least, it
seems to me that this whole fiasco could have been avoided altogether
if Paddy Power had also entered into a dialogue with an organisation
like Trans Media Watch <http://www.transmediawatch.org/> . From my
understanding, advising on this kind of media advertising campaign is
well within their remit.

As for Paddy Power’s closing question “Were they right to ban us?” I
think this recentring of the issue around the hurt feelings of cis
privileged people is disingenuous, to say the least and there’s a far
more pressing question in my mind. In the voiceover to the advert,
Paddy Power state that:

    [...] we’re going to make Ladies Day even more exciting by sending
in some beautiful transgendered ladies.

I’d like to know if the company still proposes to do that. Their
statement today is silent on the matter but, to me, it’s as much a
cause for concern as the other issues. On the day (Wednesday 14th
March 2012) will we see aggrieved punters roaming the course, looking
for women who they think are transgender, to exact some kind of
revenge for spoiling their fun (where ‘fun’ equates to their imagined
liberty to use transphobic slurs and worse)? I really hope not. It
would be appalling to see what’s billed as “a fabulous day out” turn
into a nightmare which adds to the already unacceptably high
statistics of violence against women, trans* and cis.

—————

Trans feminist fist symbol made by Helen
<http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/by/helen_g/> from images found at
Wikipedia (here
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gendersign.svg> and here
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Feminism_symbol.svg> ). Both
original images are public domain and so is this. If using elsewhere,
please ensure correct attribution.

—————

[Cross-posted from The F-Word
<http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2012/02/update_paddy_po> ]

http://www.birdofparadox.net/blog/?p=10687