Paddy Power Ad Ban For Gambling Taking Priority

15 June 2022
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An advert for wagering firm Paddy Power has actually been prohibited for motivating repetitive gaming, by revealing it taking priority over household.


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


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


The business stated it accepted the choice from the marketing regulator and would consider the guidance it had actually been given.


Displayed in March 2022 throughout TV and online, the showed the male being in a living space beside his girlfriend, whilst using his phone to play one of the company's betting video games.


His sweetheart's mother brings the couple a beverage, after which his girlfriend postures the concern to which the guy responds without thinking, while continuing to gaze at his phone. Following his girlfriend's incredulous gaze, the guy returns, embarrassed, to playing the betting video game.


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


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The advertisement received 3 complaints from audiences, all of which were maintained. One complainant stated the advertisement showed the male was so preoccupied with betting it had led him to make an "unsuitable remark".


The UK's marketing watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the ad "encouraged repeated gaming" due to the fact that it "portrayed gambling as taking concern in life, over family".


A Paddy Power spokesperson informed the BBC the firm was "devoted to responsible practice and it is always our intent to comply with the Advertising Codes. We accept the choice of the ASA and will consider its broader assistance moving forwards".


The plaintiffs to the ASA believed that the male was depicted as letting gambling take concern over his household life and was "socially reckless".


Paddy Power safeguarded itself to the ASA, arguing that the ad implied a "commitment to household life", because it depicted the scene of a traditional household setting, with the guy joining his girlfriend's moms and dads for Sunday lunch, and was intended to be "light-hearted".


The ASA told Paddy Power that its adverts might not depict betting as "taking top priority in life, or represent, excuse or encourage gambling behaviour that was socially reckless", and that the adverts could no longer be revealed in their existing type.


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 gambling ads.


The ruling follows a broader campaign by the ASA to secure down on socially irresponsible advertising and use tougher guidelines for gambling marketing in particular.