Norwich City’s Asian gambling shirt sponsor criticised for using ‘women as glorified sexual objects’ in adverts
Norwich City’s new shirt sponsor, an obscure Asian gambling company called BK8, has been using highly sexualised images of young women in social media promotions which would be banned by the UK Advertising Standards Agency .
These include YouTube videos of women simulating sexual acts as well as an apparent influencer marketing campaign involving young females in their underwear placing BK8 stickers on their breasts. The Athletic has also discovered an account that claims to belong to a BK8 “ambassador” with more than a quarter of a million followers that links directly to hardcore pornography.
Some of these videos have been removed over the course of a day which saw fans digging up more and more unsavoury content on social media but plenty was still online on Monday evening.
“There is no way my teenage daughter will be in one of those shirts next season,” says Sarah Greaves, a Canaries Trust board member, who commissioned a sexism survey for the club. “I hope none of my children Google that firm online and see images I wouldn’t want them to see, especially associated with a football club they adore.”
“Norwich City are aware of a series of marketing posts across the social media accounts of our new principal partners, BK8,” the club said in a statement. “These posts and marketing do not align with the wider Norwich City vision and values and we will be reviewing our due diligence process going forward.”
The company, meanwhile, says it “wholeheartedly” apologises for any offence caused by its “historical marketing”.
“We accept that this form of marketing isn’t befitting of a Premier League partnership,” added BK8 in a statement. “We have immediately removed all marketing material of this nature and will conduct a review of our marketing strategy moving forward.”
This is a big week for Norwich City as the club prepares for life back in the Premier League, with the club agreeing a transfer fee with Aston Villa for Emiliano Buendia to help fund new arrivals. Minutes after that was announced on Monday, the club unveiled BK8 Sports as its new “principal partner”, saying the company’s logo would appear on the front of shirts for at least the 2021-22 season, with potential options to extend the deal further.
In a video shared by the club, Ben Tunnell, head of commercial development, says: “We’re aware of some of the concerns that supporters may have regarding betting companies sponsoring football clubs. But as a self-funded club, we have to do all we can to support the efforts on the pitch by generating as much revenue as possible.”
English football clubs are under increasing pressure over their relationship with gambling, with the government carrying out a review into the sector as a whole and some fans’ groups critical of the social impact of gambling — including of Dafabet, Norwich’s sponsor for the past two seasons.
Norwich have separate sponsorship for their academy teams and youth shirt sales – currently Norfolk sports car manufacturer Lotus – but the club’s women’s side have worn shirts with Dafabet branding and the BK8 deal is thought to apply to them too. Club legend Darren Eadie has also joined BK8 as the “brand spokesperson”.
“Gambling firms have huge amounts of money they use to advance their brand,” says Greaves. “I know Norwich have done things to mitigate any community impact and there are not many people that can come into the club and give us cash to that level.
“But within a few minutes we’d all found images that I associate with sport in the early ’80s and the use of women as glorified sexual objects to advertise it. As time has gone on today, I’ve felt more upset.”
On BK8’s Thai language YouTube channel, a December 2019 video with half a million views shows four young females simulating a sexual act on what appears to be a sausage. The video was made “private” on Monday afternoon and then removed.
Another video on the same channel showed models bouncing on chairs and rubbing up against each other, clearly simulating sexual intercourse while not falling foul of YouTube’s strict anti-nudity filters. It was also taken down on Monday evening.
UK authorities take a dim view of this sort of footage when it comes to advertising gambling products.
The Advertising Standards Authority’s code of conduct states that advertising must not “link gambling to seduction, sexual success or enhanced attractiveness”. I n Asia, however, BK8 offers games like “Sexy Baccarat” online and uses provocative images to promote their product.
There was also still vast amounts of adult content promoting BK8 on influencer accounts on Instagram and TikTok on Monday evening. These involve images and videos of very young female models wearing underwear, or BK8 branded clothing, with “BK8” stickers on their exposed skin.
These videos do not come directly from BK8 official accounts, but all the photos are very similar, containing young models using the same stickers and posting with the same hashtags.
It is common for firms to use “influencer marketing” although in the UK this comes with strict rules. No UK gambling firm would be allowed to market itself in this way.
Some of these marketing campaigns orchestrated by influencers, easily found via public hashtags, also link to hardcore pornography pages via OnlyFans, a paid subscription site. One particular account offered highly explicit pornographic content for a fee.
“There is a clear dichotomy between Norwich embracing family values and the sort of stuff we’ve seen today on Instagram and YouTube,” says Robin Sainty, chairman of the Canaries Trust. “We’ve already identified that sexism is still a live issue, so something that objectifies women to the extent this does clearly doesn’t sit comfortably at all.”
Dr James Noyes is a lifelong Norwich City fan, senior fellow of the Social Market Foundation think tank and author of a major report on gambling reform.
“Norwich City prides itself on being a family club, but this has been trashed by today’s announcement that the club is to be sponsored by an overseas gambling operator which has a business model using sexualised images of young women that would fall foul of social responsibility rules in the UK,” he says.
Darren Eadie (left) and Ben Kensell, Norwich City’s chief operating officer, unveil the club’s new sponsor (Photo: Matthew Usher/Norwich City FC)
“For years, campaigners have called for an end to offshore ‘white label’ companies sponsoring British football clubs, but this is one of the worst cases that I have seen yet. Serious questions must now be asked of the Norwich City executive committee and board, who have allowed the reputation of one of our oldest football clubs to be tarnished by financial opportunism, who have failed at the most basic level in their due diligence, and who have exposed their young supporters to inappropriate adult content.”
The “white label” system to which Dr Noyes refers is why BK8 does not fall foul of any UK laws.
Gambling firms based in Asia can pay an intermediary in the Isle of Man or Malta in order to gain legal access to the UK market and therefore legally advertise on Premier League shirts which will be seen by gamblers all over the globe.
This white-label process involves setting up a website that is designed to “look and feel like a company or brand, but the contents and services provided on the website are operated and managed by a licensed gambling company”, says the Gambling Commission. “This is typically a commercial arrangement where both parties share any profit from the website.”
BK8 uses a company called PowerPlay — which the gambling firm’s website says is based in Malta but the UK Gambling Commission’s website says is in Cyprus — to gain access to the UK market. The Athletic approached PowerPlay for comment.
It is not clear where BK8 is based, although social media activity suggests the firm has ties to Malaysia and Indonesia. Norwich’s official statement simply described the firm as “Asian”.
After extensive conversations with those working in other Premier League clubs about these gambling deals, The Athletic understands that the clubs very often know startlingly little about these companies.
Norwich have taken a lot of plaudits for their financial model in recent years, building relative success on the pitch with stability and spending only the money they generate. Club owners Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones are lifelong supporters who have helped keep the club afloat since their initial involvement in 1996 and have now seen their previous loans paid back by the club.
For all the above, it is remarkable that losing in excess of £35 million (and potentially more) owing to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a side note since March 2020. Each of their past five Premier League seasons have ended with Norwich’s accounts posting a profit.
The narrative is a club trying to play by financial rules, and therefore commercial opportunities such as shirt sponsor must be maximised if Norwich are to stand a chance of success. Dafabet’s arrival in the summer of 2019 was labelled a club-record deal, worth in excess of £5 million a year. The BK8 deal comes slightly under that mark but is still seen as a very good financial package due to the current economic climate and continuing coronavirus pandemic.
The Canaries Trust issued a statement on Monday evening addressing what it sees as a serious error in judgment with BK8 and one that will impact the wider reputation of the club.
The statement finished with four words: “This is not acceptable.”
(Top photo: Matthew Usher/Norwich City FC)
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