Norwich City's new shirt sponsor was caught posting adult content on day one

In June 2021 newly promoted Premier League club Norwich City announced BK8, an Asian betting firm replacing Dafabet, as its new main shirt sponsor for the 2021-22 season. Supporters quickly discovered the company used sexually provocative content to promote itself on social media, and criticised the club for the deal — on the same day Norwich announced star player Emi Buendia was set to leave.

The club said it 'worked swiftly' with BK8 to remove the posts, stating they did 'not align with the wider Norwich City vision and values'. Adult content came down from at least one BK8 Instagram account, though fans kept finding similar material on other accounts linked to the company. Norwich added that, made aware of 'a series of marketing posts across the social media accounts of our new principal partners', it would be 'reviewing our due diligence process going forward'.

BK8 apologised 'for any offence caused by our historical marketing', accepted the marketing was not 'befitting of a Premier League partnership', removed all such material and promised a review of its marketing strategy. BBC Radio Norfolk's analyst called the episode a 'PR own goal' for a club that prides itself on being inclusive and community-run, and questioned how Norwich City Women's kit would look carrying the brand.

A 'PR own goal': fan backlash on announcement day, adult posts removed from BK8 accounts, and the club promising to review its due diligence process

The club signed a shirt partner without checking what its own Instagram accounts had been posting.

A community club whose supporters' groups campaign against online abuse was tied to sexualised advertising overnight.

The sponsor's cleanup was incomplete — similar content stayed live on other linked accounts after the first removals.

Both parties called the marketing 'historical', yet it surfaced on announcement day, when scrutiny was at its peak.

Vet a sponsor's actual feed, not its logo — your values inherit whatever their marketing has been posting.

The posts were removed and both club and sponsor promised reviews of their processes from June 2021; the sponsorship itself went ahead for the 2021-22 season. No further outcomes are reported.