Paddy Power Ad Ban For Gambling Taking Priority
15 June 2022
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An advert for betting company Paddy Power has been banned for encouraging recurring gaming, by showing it taking top priority over household.
The advert includes a female asking her boyfriend "Do you believe I'll end up appearing like my mum?".
He, distracted by a gaming app, replies "I hope so".
The company stated it accepted the decision from the advertising regulator and would think about the guidance it had been offered.
Displayed in March 2022 throughout TV and online, the ad revealed the male sitting in a living room next to his girlfriend, whilst utilizing his phone to play one of the firm's betting video games.
His girlfriend's mother brings the couple a drink, after which his girlfriend presents the question to which the male reacts without thinking, while continuing to stare at his phone. Following his girlfriend's incredulous stare, the man returns, embarrassed, to playing the betting video game.
The advert's narrator then specifies: "So no matter how badly you stuff it up, you'll always get another chance with Paddy Power games".
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The advertisement received three problems from viewers, all of which were upheld. One plaintiff said the advertisement showed the male was so with gambling it had actually led him to make an "unsuitable remark".
The UK's advertising guard dog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) stated the advertisement "encouraged repeated betting" because it "depicted gambling as taking concern in life, over family".
A Paddy Power representative informed the BBC the firm was "dedicated to accountable practice and it is constantly our intent to comply with the Advertising Codes. We accept the decision of the ASA and will consider its more comprehensive assistance moving forwards".
The complainants to the ASA believed that the male was depicted as letting gaming take priority over his domesticity and was "socially irresponsible".
Paddy Power defended itself to the ASA, arguing that the advertisement indicated a "dedication to household life", considering that it portrayed the scene of a traditional family setting, with the male joining his sweetheart's moms and dads for Sunday lunch, and was meant to be "light-hearted".
The ASA informed Paddy Power that its adverts might not portray gambling as "taking priority in life, or represent, condone or motivate betting behaviour that was socially reckless", which the adverts might no longer be revealed in their current type.
Clearcast, the company responsible for clearing adverts before broadcast in the UK, stated that it accepted the ASA ruling, and will take the assistance in to consideration when clearing future gambling ads.
The ruling follows a wider project by the ASA to secure down on socially irresponsible marketing and use tougher rules for betting advertising in specific.