The British athlete, Paula Radcliffe, has secured a major multi million dollar advertising deal with the nicotine gum manufacturer Nicorette following her shock retirement from the 2004 Olympic Marathon. It had been expected that following the retirement that Paula Radcliffe’s value would drop, and that should would lose sponsors, however Keith Wilson, a member of Nicorette’s marketing department explained Paula Radcliffe’s performance in the marathon was a perfect example of the company’s values:

“We support quitters,” Mr Wilson explained, “It therefore seemed logical to back Paula Radcliffe as she was a perfect example to people that no matter how vital something seems it is incredible easy to give up.”

It is unknown whether Paula Radcliffe is going to compete in the 10km on Friday 27th August however Nicorette have said they believe she should not:

“We were initially divided on this one, but ultimately we agreed that she shouldn’t. Some of us thought she could do an even more shocking example of quitting. Perhaps after 100metres or something, but we all eventually realised that the marathon is the big event and no matter how well she quit it would not have the same impact.

“Also, we want people to think that when they quit, they quit for good. And you can’t get better from quitting an event before it’s started. It’s definitely the image of Nicorette we want to project.”

One of the poster's from Nicorette's Paula Radcliffe Campaign