September 07, 2004
Quaker Drops Radcliffe After Poor Olympic Showing
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Paula Radcliffe has been dropped from an advertising campaign for porridge because she doesn't fit the advertising slogan.
The 30-year-old Olympic athlete was due to shoot a TV commercial for Quaker's Oatso Simple porridge this week, showing her winning a marathon after eating the cereal.
The advertising slogan was to read: "It helps you go the distance."
But Quaker has pulled out of the idea after Radcliffe's poor showing at the Athens Olympics where she failed to finish both the marathon and the 10,000m.
Radcliffe had been seen as the perfect celebrity to promote the cereal as she says porridge is her favourite pre-race meal, says the Mail on Sunday.
A source linked to the company said: "Although a contract was not in place, the whole advert had been verbally agreed between Paula's agent and Quaker, although it was made clear that it would only go ahead if Paula won the medal."
But agent Sian Masterson said the idea was scrapped because Quaker couldn't get the script approved by the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre, which pre-vets commercials, because it contravened regulations.
Radcliffe had been due to sign the contract once she returned from Athens.
Apparently, Quaker can’t go the distance either – except it takes a lot more guts to be the best long-distance runner in the world than it does the world’s greatest bowl of porridge…
- Arik
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