Paddy Power pulls Ashes stunt and launches #AussieBashing hashtag on Twitter
Ahead of the second Ashes test tomorrow Paddy Power has been stoking the fire between the England and Aussie fans by projecting a cheeky image of ‘Captain Cook’ on the final test venue.
The projection onto the pitch at the Oval is a mocked up shot of England skipper Alistair Cook in a Royal Navy hat with the caption, ‘Captain Cook: Civilising Aussies since 1770”, a reference to the man who led Botany Bay, now Sydney, being turned into a penal colony.
Often portrayed as a gentleman’s sport Paddy Power is playing on the fact that the quips, insults and banter that fly around behind the crease are what makes the fame so great, and when the Ashes is on the intense history of England v Australia comes into play and playful jibes and jokes become a serious part of the game.
Guerrilla projection specialist, Paul Jection, commented: “Projections technology has come on so much recently. For Captain Cook we were using a state-of-the-art projector and the results couldn’t have been better. The Oval was the perfect canvas, it is such a good location that they could project films on it for the police in helicopters to watch at night.”
As well as sparking banter between the players the self-proclaimed mischief maker also wants to spark a war of the words on social media, encouraging anyone glued to the series to post the best sledging they can muster along with the hastag #AussieBashing.
A Paddy Power spokesman added: “Our projection at the Oval of Captain Cook is designed to spark some top class sledging across social media that’ll hopefully add a bit of spice to the rest of the series – let the #AussieBashing begin.”