Paddy Power Ad Ban For Gambling Taking Priority
15 June 2022
ShareSave
An advert for betting company Paddy Power has been banned for motivating repeated gaming, by showing it taking priority over family.
The advert includes a woman asking her boyfriend "Do you think I'll end up appearing like my mum?".
He, distracted by a gaming app, responds "I hope so".
The company stated it accepted the choice from the marketing regulator and would consider the assistance it had been provided.
Displayed in March 2022 across TV and online, the advertisement revealed the male being in a living space beside his girlfriend, whilst utilizing his phone to play among the company's wagering games.
His brings the couple a drink, after which his sweetheart postures the concern to which the man reacts without thinking, while continuing to stare at his phone. Following his girlfriend's incredulous gaze, the male returns, embarrassed, to playing the betting video game.
The advert's narrator then states: "So no matter how severely you stuff it up, you'll always get another opportunity with Paddy Power video games".
Celebrities and footballers to get gambling advertisement restriction
Tesco plant-based food advert banned as misleading
Adidas sports bra adverts banned over bare breasts
The advertisement got 3 grievances from viewers, all of which were maintained. One plaintiff said the advertisement showed the guy was so preoccupied with gambling it had actually led him to make an "unsuitable remark".
The UK's advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the advertisement "encouraged repetitive gambling" because it "represented gaming as taking concern in life, over household".
A Paddy Power representative informed the BBC the company was "committed to responsible practice and it is constantly our intention to abide by the Advertising Codes. We accept the choice of the ASA and will consider its broader guidance moving forwards".
The plaintiffs to the ASA believed that the man was represented as letting gaming take top priority over his domesticity and was "socially careless".
Paddy Power safeguarded itself to the ASA, arguing that the advertisement implied a "dedication to domesticity", because it portrayed the scene of a standard family setting, with the man joining his girlfriend's parents for Sunday lunch, and was meant to be "light-hearted".
The ASA informed Paddy Power that its adverts could not represent gambling as "taking priority in life, or portray, excuse or motivate gambling behaviour that was socially irresponsible", which the adverts could no longer be revealed in their current kind.
Clearcast, the business accountable for clearing adverts before broadcast in the UK, said that it accepted the ASA judgment, and will take the assistance in to consideration when clearing future gaming ads.
The judgment follows a larger project by the ASA to secure down on socially irresponsible advertising and use tougher rules for betting advertising in specific.