Roy Keane suing Paddy Power after it placed him at the center of a humorous ad
Roy Keane has launched legal action against Paddy Power after the bookmaker used his image on a poster portraying him as William Wallace in the film Braveheart.
The former Manchester United captain objected to the use of his image which was displayed on a truck that was driven around Dublin and parked outside the Aviva Stadium on the day of Ireland’s European championship qualifier against Scotland in June.
The poster was a reference to the Scottish Independence referendum, designed to taunt the Scottish fans with a caption “You may take our points - but at least we have our freedom... (ya wee pussies)”
The Irish bookmaker could face a bill of €100,000 if Keane wins the claim that the billboard infringed his image rights. The Irish Times newspaper reported that a spokesperson for Paddy Power said the matter “is with the lawyers, so obviously we can’t talk about it, but hopefully they won’t take our freedom to have a bit of craic.”
The ad campaign is indicative of Paddy Power’s humorous marketing strategy which only last week jokingly encouraged illegal immigrants to jump in their lorries if they were good at sport.