Grainger Games, the head sponsor for last night’s Games Media Awards in London, has been banned by Intent Media events following a PR nightmare.

Attendees of the event saw an orange Humvee outside the venue with the ‘Grainger Games’ logo placed upon it, containing two dwarfs, alongside two girls wearing orange hot-pants and shorts, inside. Following on from this, when attendees went to their seats for dinner, condoms were found scattered all over the table – apparently the same bright orange colour of the car.

Bulent Yusuf from Gizmodo said: “Even the journalist from Zoo magazine was puzzled as to why condoms should be distributed prior to a fancy sit-down meal.”

It has been reported that the representatives from the Newcastle-based company then heckled the compere, comedian Greg Davies, before the winners were announced – with the awards being handed out by the dwarfs.

Grainger Games has posted an apology on its website: “We wholeheartedly apologise if we offended anyone at last night's GMAs. It was never our intention to upset anybody. We sponsored the awards to show our support for everyone involved in games media and we continue to value and appreciate all their hard work and commitment.”

The apology was also posted on the company’s Facebook page, but has since been deleted, along with a post pointing it out.

Stuart Dinsey, MD of Intent Media, who ran the event, has said: “At last night's Games Media Awards, many friends and partners of Intent Media were, quite understandably, upset and offended by the behaviour of the event's headline sponsor, Grainger Games.

“I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise wholeheartedly for this – and to make it very clear that Grainger will not be welcome back in any capacity to the GMAs, or any Intent Media events.
“Grainger approached us a few months ago and explained that their intention, through association with the GMAs, was to get closer to the games media. What they have done, in spectacular fashion, is alienate the entire games media in one night. Good work, guys.

“We have, as you might have guessed, received a number of complaints last night and this morning.

“We have listened to every single one of them and accept all points made. And we're happy (well, maybe not 'happy', but certainly 'willing' and 'expecting') to hear more.

“In fact, whilst I hate to sound like one of those pompous voiceovers that comes after a particularly harrowing episode of Eastenders, if you were affected by any of the incidents that took place, do feel free to get in touch with me directly, vent your spleen and get a heartfelt personal apology. My email is Stuart.Dinsey@intentmedia.co.uk.

“What annoys me most, perhaps, is that the GMA team here at Intent Media, headed by Lisa Carter and Kathryn Humphrey, and our great friends at Indigo Pearl, lead brilliantly by Caroline Miller, put months of work and a whole lot of love into staging the Games Media Awards.

“People really care who wins and are genuinely pleased for colleagues and even rivals when they get approbation from their peers. The GMAs are special. They celebrate talent from The Guardian and BBC to specialist media, blogs and cub writers.

“Grainger Games' behaviour and attitude was the antithesis of what the GMAs are about. Next year we will give the event back to the media and work only with partners we know understand what the event is about.

“I quite often feel terrible after the Games Media Awards. I'm sure a lot of you do as well. But this morning I just feel a bit embarrassed and extremely apologetic. I really do hope to see everyone who came last night back again next year. Well, nearly everyone.”