BOOKMAKER PADDY POWER has launched a public campaign to save a massive hoarding it erected on the land of a farmer living close to the Celtic Manor resort where the Ryder Cup tees off on Friday.
The bookie hired the farmland overlooking the first tee box, a high-profile spot given the worldwide TV audience for the tournament, and built an enormous 90-yard tall sign bearing its name, in the style of the famous Hollywood sign.
The same sign was used in a similar ‘ambush marketing’ ploy during the Cheltenham festival, ignoring the planning permission requirements by stating it would take the local council three days to serve a notice to remove the sign, before which the sign would have been removed.
The plan has hit a snag, with bulldozers moving in this lunchtime to take down the enormous sign.
The bulldozers are backed by the local council, who are seeking to remove the structure as an eyesore, because it did not receive planning permission, and because Paddy Power are not an official advertising partner of the high-profile competition.
A spokesman for the European Tour had told the Daily Telegraph it was monitoring the situation, but with moves underway to remove the sign, the bookie’s head of retail marketing – a certain Paddy Power – has taken to Facebook and Twitter to try and initiate a public campaign to save the sign.
A spokesman for the bookie had previously told the Daily Mail that Paddy Power was “just showing our support for the Irish with a big sign on the hill.”
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