A New Zealand brewery company has withdrawn a controversial ad campaign, which showed pacer Daryl Tuffey taking a dig at Pakistan cricketers over match-fixing scandals, following angry reactions from the PCB and the Pakistani community.
According to reports, the Moa Brewing Co launched the ad campaign, featuring Tuffey, where he claims that Pakistani players are match-fixers and while New Zealand win matches, the Pakistanis take home cash cheques.
The ad drew strong criticism from the Pakistani community in New Zealand with Dunedin-based former Test player and coach Khalid Ibadullah terming the campaign as “quite insulting and quite offensive”.
Ibadullah also drew the attention of the PCB to the campaign, which reacted very strongly to it and decided to look into the matter.
A PCB spokesman said that the ad has been withdrawn now after the matter was taken up with the company.
The company had earlier defended the commercial pointing out that Pakistan cricket has been hit hard by match fixing allegations and that three of its top players – Salman Butt, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Aamer – were in fact banned by the ICC for spot-fixing last year.
The PCB official had said while it was true that the three players were banned for spot-fixing but that didn’t give the company the right to cast slurs on Pakistan cricket.
The PCB called the beer unethical and disrespectful for making fun of the match-fixing scandal that Pakistani players were embroiled in last year.
In a statement issued on Monday, the PCB accused the Moa Brewing Co. of being “insensitive to the feelings of the Pakistani nation.”
The company’s ad features a statement signed by Kiwi allrounder Daryl Tuffey that reads: “Pakistanis love cricket and they love making money. Sometimes they combine the two with a good old Pakistani Match Fix so that the Black Caps get to win a game.”
The PCB said it has been told the campaign has since been withdrawn.
