A recent PokerStars advertisement that ran in the UK reads: “Play mind games – Poker is a sport of courage, conviction, and confidence”. The words are accompanied by an image of Daniel Negreanu sitting down on the street holding a hockey stick. The Advertising Standards Authority was responding to a complaint regarding the advertisement, which had been running for only a few weeks. The argument was rather weak and essentially stated that the ad was trying to improve self-image among children by using the word sport and courage.
While the ASA tossed the complaint, they did require PokerStars to change the ad before running it any longer. In their response to the critics, PokerStars stated that in no way were they inferring that poker would give a player these attributes but rather they were qualities inherent in good poker players.
We’re just curious as to when PokerStars will begin using Greg Raymer in their “sporty” ad campaigns. So far they’ve had Vanessa Rousso jump off a bridge, Daniel has played street hockey, and Boris Becker playing tennis. How about Greg eating a burrito?