Paddy Power Ad Ban For Gambling Taking Priority

15 June 2022
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An advert for betting firm Paddy Power has been banned for encouraging recurring betting, by revealing it taking concern over family.


The advert features a woman asking her sweetheart "Do you believe I'll end up appearing like my mum?".


He, distracted by a betting app, responds "I hope so".


The company stated it the choice from the marketing regulator and would think about the assistance it had actually been provided.


Shown in March 2022 across TV and online, the advertisement revealed the man sitting in a living space next to his sweetheart, whilst using his phone to play among the firm's wagering games.


His sweetheart's mother brings the couple a drink, after which his girlfriend postures the question to which the man reacts without believing, while continuing to look at his phone. Following his girlfriend's incredulous look, the man returns, embarrassed, to playing the wagering video game.


The advert's narrator then states: "So no matter how terribly you stuff it up, you'll constantly get another opportunity with Paddy Power video games".


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The advertisement got 3 problems from audiences, all of which were upheld. One plaintiff said the advertisement revealed the guy was so preoccupied with betting it had led him to make an "inappropriate remark".


The UK's advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) stated the ad "encouraged repetitive betting" due to the fact that it "portrayed gambling as taking concern in life, over family".


A Paddy Power representative told the BBC the company was "devoted to accountable practice and it is always our intent to comply with the Advertising Codes. We accept the choice of the ASA and will consider its more comprehensive assistance moving forwards".


The complainants to the ASA thought that the man was represented as letting gaming take top priority over his domesticity and was "socially careless".


Paddy Power defended itself to the ASA, arguing that the ad suggested a "dedication to domesticity", since it portrayed the scene of a conventional household setting, with the guy joining his sweetheart's moms and dads for Sunday lunch, and was meant to be "light-hearted".


The ASA told Paddy Power that its adverts might not portray betting as "taking priority in life, or portray, condone or motivate betting behaviour that was socially irresponsible", which the adverts might no longer be shown in their current kind.


Clearcast, the company accountable for clearing adverts before broadcast in the UK, said that it accepted the ASA ruling, and will take the guidance in to consideration when clearing future gaming advertisements.


The ruling follows a broader campaign by the ASA to secure down on socially careless marketing and apply tougher rules for gambling marketing in particular.