Norwich City terminates BK8 sponsorship deal over sexualised marketing row

The East Anglia club has ditched the Cambodian betting company BK8 amidst revolts and criticism from fans over the company’s sexualised marketing.

Just three days after signing a one-year contract with the Asian betting firm, Norwich City has dropped its partnership deal with BK8. Following Monday’s announcement, BK8 was found to be using highly sexualised images of young women in revealing clothes as a constant theme for their marketing. 

After that, the club persuaded BK8 to delete content from its social media accounts, only for the fans to come out and post a video denouncing the sponsorship deal. Using the #hergametoo hashtag, the video set out what the fans believed were the club’s principles.

“Our club does not support or endorse degrading or upsetting images not in keeping with our values as an inclusive community club. Our football club should not associate with anyone else who does.”

Today, the club has announced that the deal has been terminated with immediate effect. “As a club, we’re proud of our place within the local community and our relationship with the supporters around the world. We have worked tirelessly for a considerable time building relationships across a wide range of medium and community projects.

“Whilst we anticipated some negative responses to the announcement of the partnership with a betting company, the club understands the reaction to BK8, their affiliates and other similar brands’ way of marketing, the values of which do not align with those of the football Club.”

Norwich’s chief operating officer, Ben Kensell, said: “We remain highly committed to diversity and equality across our football club and its community. We want to continue to embed a highly inclusive culture across the club, together with an accessible and welcoming environment free of demeaning and discriminatory behaviours.”