A Paddy Power TV advert shown ahead of a major horse race that featured transgender people has been ruled as offensive – because it invited viewers to spot the “stallions” from the “mares”.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 92 complaints that the bookmaker's ad condoned and encouraged harmful discriminatory behaviour.
The ad, screened in February ahead of Ladies’ Day at the Cheltenham Festival, stated: “...we're going to make Ladies' Day even more exciting by sending in some beautiful transgendered ladies. Spot the stallions from the mares".
The ad showed a series of brief shots of people at the event while the voiceover attempted to guess their gender.
In one scene a woman was shown holding a dog while the voiceover stated "woman" then hesitated while the shot changed to show a woman walking out of a men's toilet and stated "dog, I mean man".
Paddy Power said it consulted the Beaumont Society, which it understood was the largest and longest established transgender support group in the UK, to ensure the ad met broadcasting and decency standards.
It did not intend to cause harm or offence and was "saddened" to learn that some viewers were offended by the ad, but believed that the complaints had come from an organised campaign.
The Beaumont Society told the ASA that the script it had been given did not include the scene in which a woman left a men's toilet and was referred to as a dog, and that it was not happy with the manner in which the terms "stallions" and "mares" were used in the finished ad.
Upholding the complaints, the ASA said the suggestion that "trans people" could be segregated into the gender stereotypes "stallions" and "mares" as part of a guessing game trivialised a complex and difficult issue and objectified them in a way that was likely to cause them serious offence.
It said: "We considered that the ad trivialised a highly complex issue and depicted a number of common negative stereotypes about trans people.
"We considered that by suggesting that trans women would look like men in drag and that their gender could be speculated on as part of a game, the ad irresponsibly reinforced those negative stereotypes and, particularly by framing the game in a way that involved a member of the public who had commented on Paddy Power's Facebook page, the ad condoned and encouraged harmful discriminatory behaviour and treatment."
It ruled that the ad must not be shown again in its current form.
A Paddy Power spokesman said: "We are disappointed with the ASA ruling on our Ladies' Day commercial.
"This decision is especially frustrating given that the commercial was pre-approved by British television advertising clearance body Clearcast who then considered the humour in the advert, while not to everyone's taste, fell short of causing offence.
"Additionally, we reached out to leading UK transgender group, The Beaumont Society, for feedback on the script. Furthermore, we exclusively cast members of the trans community in the various transgender roles in the commercial.
"Finally, it is worth pointing out that the commercial has almost 600,000 views with twice as many 'likes' than 'dislikes.'"
Paddy Power’s ad is not alone in causing offensive.
Actor Ashton Kutcher recently found himself in hot water after a viral ad for Pop Chips featuring the actor in brownface stirred accusations of racism and was promptly taken down.
South African fast food chicken restaurant Nando's, meanwhile, screened an ad that showed infamous leaders remembering the “good old days” of causing terror and misery on a national scale.
And animal rights campaigners PETA caused controversy for an advert pushing veganism that joked that boyfriends who give up meat |”can suddenly bring it like a tantric porn star”.
It featured a clip of a woman in her knickers wearing a neck brace and walking painfully down the street.