Paddy Power's $1.36M Deal With Luis Suarez Nixed By Player's Biting Incident

Patrick Kennedy's €2.5B ($3.4B) valued bookmaker Paddy Power "offered controversial Uruguay and Liverpool striker" Luis Suarez €1M ($1.36M) "to wear a special branded mouth guard during a high profile World Cup match," according to Nick Webb of the IRISH INDEPENDENT. The "daring marketing stunt would have seen Suarez reveal that he was wearing the green, branded Paddy Power mouth guard as television cameras filmed the teams singing their national anthems ahead of the Uruguay match against Colombia last week." However the ambitious plan "was nixed as FIFA banned Suarez following the now infamous biting incident involving Italy's Giorgio Chiellini." Paddy Power sources said, "Negotiations broke down over cost but in theory, he was up for it. ... I guess you could say it was the best ambush marketing campaign that never was" (IRISH INDEPENDENT, 7/6).