New Paddy Power advert with Rhodri Giggs

This is well weird. I'm that bloke that's known for my brother shagging my missus for 8 years behind my back so i'm going to be more well known as that bloke while my brother manages Wales and is an owner of a club making it's way through the football league, that'll show him.
 
This is well weird. I'm that bloke that's known for my brother shagging my missus for 8 years behind my back so i'm going to be more well known as that bloke while my brother manages Wales and is an owner of a club making it's way through the football league, that'll show him.

I doubt he’s trying to “show” anyone. Paddy Power gave him a massive pile of cash, that’s about the end of it.
 
I doubt he’s trying to “show” anyone. Paddy Power gave him a massive pile of cash, that’s about the end of it.

Yeah, it wasn't a direct dig at Rhodri's attitude but I do find it a bit weird to do even if i was getting a load of money, i'd want to shy away from the ridicule as much as possible but each to their own.
 
This thread is a great barometer of who is a bit of psychopath (with little grasp of reality) and who isn’t. As if posting on internet forums wasn’t weird enough as it is.

Rhodri Giggs is a man whose brother had an eight year affair with his wife. He’s now a man whose brother had an eight year affair with his wife that has more money - and probably had a good laugh at his brother’s expense while filming it. Cathartic release, perhaps.

At the risk of stating the obvious, people criticising Rhodri Giggs are speaking as if he they haven’t been the victim of an eight year affair in which their brother has been nutting their wife. But, yeah, erm... man up and show some dignity. Or something.

For what it’s worth, I think it’s quite witty and, in some cases, fairly subtle. ‘The Wandering Cock’, the newspaper headline, the training remark etc. Giggs is entitled to embrace this however he wishes.
 
Yeah, it wasn't a direct dig at Rhodri's attitude but I do find it a bit weird to do even if i was getting a load of money, i'd want to shy away from the ridicule as much as possible but each to their own.

It's just smart. he already is that person that got cheated on by his famous brother. That won't change. at least here, he's getting good money for the ad.

Make the most of every situations. hiding won't achieve anything and will get him nothing. it's just stupid to turn down the occasion.
 
Imagine involving Paddy Power in a cathartic exercise :lol:

I'm curious as to whether his psychologist signed off on this. I hope he has one, he's been through a lot of undeserved scrutiny and ridicule and pain. I'm still stuck on the notion that a public ad is the way to release all the emotion. What options are there for people who are cheated on by non-celebrities, do they get to make videos too?
 
This is well weird. I'm that bloke that's known for my brother shagging my missus for 8 years behind my back so i'm going to be more well known as that bloke while my brother manages Wales and is an owner of a club making it's way through the football league, that'll show him.

He must already be relatively well known for the ad to work, so I doubt it makes that much difference beyond vaguely increasing the level of goodwill people have towards him. Also, any public reminder that you fecked your own brother's wife is hardly positive, even if you are the national team manager.
 
No one knows what Rhodri thinks about the whole thing, perhaps not even himself. So yes it's all surface level analysis, whether it's meeting him in person or watching him in an ad. However they do know what the idea was before Rhodri was even asked, they have a good idea of what convinced him to do the ad, and they're not under any illusions over what the intended messages were.

As with any message you put out in the world, different folks will interpret it through their own lens. However this is a message directed at customers, primarily. It's about loyalty schemes not about getting new folks in off the street. And they've got a pretty good idea of who their customers are, what they're most receptive to, etc. Multi layered messaging is not what they do. They could not give a feck about that.

Of course they knew that hinting at a personal issue will lead to some social commentary. However none of the stakeholders involved were interested in that, it's a commercial idea with a bit of self-gratification in the process. Good for him to get that self-gratification but I don't think he'll look back on it as a satisfying decision years later. Except for the money, of course.
Well let's not conflate Paddy Power the cynical enterprise with this isolated advert for a minute and break it down to why Rhodri would even entertain the idea.

I'm of the opinion money is a [welcome] bonus, but sticking one on his brother was the driving force behind agreeing to it. Why now? Because it's been his only real window of opportunity with Giggs' managerial ambitions and a national company coming to him with the idea.

The higher ups have no real hands on at directorial and production level, so we can separate that (the board and so forth) from the process. Their motivation at board level and the final product we got to see are not necessarily mutually exclusive, of course, by way of this, they get their slice and a more prominent profile, but that doesn't mean Rhodri couldn't be self-serving rather than a pawn.

You said even he mightn't know what he wants, well, he's had 8yrs to stew and rue on it and opportunities during those years to get payback whilst not distraught would have been few and far between, I should imagine.

I don't think any of the process is as simplistic as you're suggesting unless they've got idiot savants making adverts. It's clever, satirical and as you said, open to interpretation, all of which will get people to think as well as talk about it and in turn, Paddy Power.
 
Imagine involving Paddy Power in a cathartic exercise :lol:

I'm curious as to whether his psychologist signed off on this. I hope he has one, he's been through a lot of undeserved scrutiny and ridicule and pain. I'm still stuck on the notion that a public ad is the way to release all the emotion. What options are there for people who are cheated on by non-celebrities, do they get to make videos too?
The voice of the layman is irrelevant though isn't it? The options are so few and far between. Rhodri would still be a pitiful footnote if PP hadn't come to him. It's not like he's had an easy time of it with regard to what he lost because of the actions of two people who he probably trusted implicitly.

Even getting to disrupt his far more successful brothers' life just little bit is better than nothing, I think.

Some companies and clubs will steer clear because of the ad, and even though that's a drop in the ocean to Ryan, it's better than nothing at all.

Rhodri is essentially shouting at the sea; it's a hideously imbalanced 'war' I bet that burns more than if you're dealing with someone on your own level who you could get back at in a number of ways, or at least have the numerous options in your own hands.

Ryan's the sun and Rhodri a grain of sand - the feelings of inadequacy and helplessness during this must be extreme. Even this paltry advert is better than nothing in that scheme.
 
Well let's not conflate Paddy Power the cynical enterprise with this isolated advert for a minute and break it down to why Rhodri would even entertain the idea.

I'm of the opinion money is a [welcome] bonus, but sticking one on his brother was the driving force behind agreeing to it. Why now? Because it's been his only real window of opportunity with Giggs' managerial ambitions and a national company coming to him with the idea.

The higher ups have no real hands on at directorial and production level, so we can separate that (the board and so forth) from the process. Their motivation at board level and the final product we got to see are not necessarily mutually exclusive, of course, by way of this, they get their slice and a more prominent profile, but that doesn't mean Rhodri couldn't be self-serving rather than a pawn.

You said even he mightn't know what he wants, well, he's had 8yrs to stew and rue on it and opportunities during those years to get payback whilst not distraught would have been few and far between, I should imagine.

I don't think any of the process is as simplistic as you're suggesting unless they've got idiot savants making adverts. It's clever, satirical and as you said, open to interpretation, all of which will get people to think as well as talk about it and in turn, Paddy Power.

I'm 100% certain you're reading into things that aren't there.

The one thing we know from the advert is that it wasn't intended to build Paddy Power's brand, it wasn't to gain a more prominent profile, and it wasn't intended to get non-customers (i.e. the majority of folks) speaking about it. The premise of your argument is built on that mis-attribution. It is an advert for customers. Working in the advertising industry now and having worked with Paddy Power before, I have a clearer view on that than most - and I take no pride in that - but if you look it as an ad first and foremost, and you look at the specific ad message, you can't not see that. If they wanted it to appeal to larger group the specific ad message would've had a tagline about new customers (or none at all).

That doesn't mean that you couldn't re-position your argument from a different starting point, but the idea that this piece of creative was developed to get people talking about it can't be the starting point. Unless the marketing team, media and creative agencies have no understanding of how advertising works. Given the content was created by the companies, not by the individual, the individual's motivation in this is a relatively small component of what message was being delivered and why. It would be an entirely different story if it was his own idea and it was released without any of this commercial ugliness, but that isn't the reality. Separating the brand from the message is just ignoring reality, IMO. The brand dictated the message. The reality is very ugly. It's a gambling company taking advantage of a vulnerable person to make money. No amount of psychoanalysis can change that fact.

Everything else is a huge amount of conjecture about a very complicated situation, and I don't think it's something worth giving much thought to because we have so little insight into it. Even someone who's been a victim of 8 years of infidelity from their sibling can't understand what he went through in any real way, as the public nature of it fundamentally changes how you're forced to deal with it.

In any case, agree to disagree.
 
Last edited:
Good for him, I say. He's always going to be both a perpetual joke figure in the eyes of some, AND someone who was utterly betrayed and had their life destroyed by the 2 people he should have been able to trust the most. Given that Ryan basically went on with no real damage at all for his behaviour and still gets top jobs and huge money, why wouldn't you make a joke of the situation to make yourself some money. I think it only becomes sad or tragic if it becomes a whole series, with books, options for a movie, etc. Do the ad, make your jokes, cash the giant cheque, then perhaps go invest in some stocks or something.
 
I'm 100% certain you're reading into things that aren't there.

The one thing we know from the advert is that it wasn't intended to build Paddy Power's brand, it wasn't to gain a more prominent profile, and it wasn't intended to get non-customers (i.e. the majority of folks) speaking about it. The premise of your argument is built on that mis-attribution. It is an advert for customers. Working in the advertising industry now and having worked with Paddy Power before, I have a clearer view on that than most - and I take no pride in that - but if you look it as an ad first and foremost, and you look at the specific ad message, you can't not see that. If they wanted it to appeal to larger group the specific ad message would've had a tagline about new customers (or none at all).

That doesn't mean that you couldn't re-position your argument from a different starting point, but the idea that this piece of creative was developed to get people talking about it can't be the starting point. Unless the marketing team, media and creative agencies have no understanding of how advertising works. Given the content was created by the companies, not by the individual, the individual's motivation in this is a relatively small component of what message was being delivered and why. It would be an entirely different story if it was his own idea and it was released without any of this commercial ugliness, but that isn't the reality. Separating the brand from the message is just ignoring reality, IMO. The brand dictated the message. The reality is very ugly. It's a gambling company taking advantage of a vulnerable person to make money. No amount of psychoanalysis can change that fact.

Everything else is a huge amount of conjecture about a very complicated situation, and I don't think it's something worth giving much thought to because we have so little insight into it. Even someone who's been a victim of 8 years of infidelity from their sibling can't understand what he went through in any real way, as the public nature of it fundamentally changes how you're forced to deal with it.

In any case, agree to disagree.
You said he was used as a pawn, I then asked you how much of the creative process he was involved in or whether just picked up a bag of cash. You're implying the latter, are you not?

The advert had the potential to go viral and be the talk of at least the football world - that isn't standard fare for a PP advert and I do think more thought has gone into its content than you will give credit for. My impression when first watching it was both amusement and taking the advert apart and considering it for its satire, I cannot possibly be the only person who did that - the advert's begging you to look at it in great detail for loads of little tidbits and Easter eggs. That is not generic fare for most adverts on TV let alone PP ones! An advert that slots into such a bracket, how can you say it's not designed to get people talking? This thread alone has different people spotting things others missed, and it won't be the only one. Then you'll have people talking about it in bars and pubs and very likely having similar conversations to what we've seen on here. I'd like to hear the counter to this in accordance with your stance in the reply you've given.

Your second paragraph is pretty much stating it's one or the other in relation to how this was released and not considering it could serve a dual purpose, which, to me, it has done. Part of this again comes down to you being certain Rhodri is a pawn who is being exploited, which I think is a leap, personally - you even state it as fact. I don't think you have to separate the brand from the message; you can be cynical and aware enough of what the company is whilst taking on board the multi functionality of the advert or the purpose it serves. As you yourself said: it's an advert that will be interpreted in different ways by different people, which moves away from the linear suggestion you're putting forth above.

I don't know why you are certain Rhodri hasn't come to a conclusion of his own, and to be honest, you're making it sound like he's a little thick and not at all at peace with himself. You've not given him any credit that these could be considered decisions on his part almost putting forth he's in a confused state and has been led into a terrible situation. Given all that's gone on, I just wouldn't see it like that at all

As I'm typing this, the advert has come up again and I can't believe he's done that blind without considering the consequences or having intent.

We can leave it be if you want; I just found your use of the word pawn and the stance of this being simplistic and serendipitous on PP's behalf, questionable.
 
Don't blame Rhodri one bit. Ryan Giggs doesn't seem to be a particularly nice human being. And over-estimated. Not in his early years, but in his later ones he wasn't great - we used to count the number of times he gave the ball away and see if he'd improved or got worse. He didn't often improve. There was too much of the fairy tale woven around him and people couldn't see the facts. Just my opinion.
 
Giggs had a mad contingent here whom were furious he wasn't given the manager position.

An affair is one thing but your sister-in-law? 8 years? That is not a good human being and he should never come close to the MU manager position.
 
Don't blame Rhodri one bit. Ryan Giggs doesn't seem to be a particularly nice human being. And over-estimated. Not in his early years, but in his later ones he wasn't great - we used to count the number of times he gave the ball away and see if he'd improved or got worse. He didn't often improve. There was too much of the fairy tale woven around him and people couldn't see the facts. Just my opinion.
He player midfield in our run to the CL Wembley final and he scored or assisted in every tie.
 
Random bump..

I came across this. Really not sure if this has been posted here or if this is the right place. But I got a good laugh out if this.

 
Random bump..

I came across this. Really not sure if this has been posted here or if this is the right place. But I got a good laugh out if this.


Strange that he picks Fred when he's not even the worst Brazilian midfielder at United.
 
can't imagine what it must be like having to deal with shit like that

he hasn't helped himself by doing these adverts, mind you
 
Christ I'd forgotten about that Paddy Power ad :lol:
 
In fairness, the one thing Paddy Power value more even than loyalty is doing good Internet banter.
 
God damn the internet is evil. Wondering if he's going to go and hang himself.
 
Brief summary?
Affair went on for 8 years
She shagged about 10 other players, he mentions Yorke and Phil Bardsley
They don't speak
Rhodri said he had to get through it for his kids
Ryan was always selfish.
Fergie protected a lot of players
A lot of players cheated on their wives and their wives cheated on them

The first part is about Rhodri's early life, being Giggs' brother, being set up by a journo, going to prison for bottling someone.