Categories: Sports News
| Published On Jun 5, 2017 2:47 pm CEST  |  Updated on May 2, 2021 1:18 pm CEST | By iGaming Team

Sportsbet Pulls off the Controversial Advertisements Featuring Disgraced Sprinter, Ben Johnson

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The latest internet sensation currently drawing slack over its controversial issue is online bookmaker Sportsbet for reportedly featuring Olympic drug cheat Ben Johnson. The sprinter —lost his gold medal at the Seoul Olympics after testing positive for anabolic steroids.

Following the controversy, Sportsbet had been forced to pull off the campaign from all sorts of media by the Advertising Standard Bureau.

Though as per reports the board didn’t find the overall message of the advertisement to be supportive of the use of performance-enhancing drugs, it was not adhering to the existing community standards on health and safety.

The sprinter was paid $200,000 to appear in the commercial for the “roid into Android” campaign, which had a series of doping related puns.

The board also got complaints about the impact on children regarding the messages about the use of drugs in sports.

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Sportsbet defending itself from more than 150 complaints, saying the ad was clearly comical in nature and didn’t intend on to come off as it was perceived.

Sportsbet still has been given a chance to return to air the commercial provided it’s modified accordingly.