Paddy Power Ad Ban For Gambling Taking Priority

15 June 2022
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An advert for betting company Paddy Power has actually been prohibited for encouraging repeated gaming, by revealing it taking concern over household.


The advert includes a female asking her partner "Do you think I'll end up appearing like my mum?".


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


The business said it accepted the choice from the advertising regulator and would think about the guidance it had been offered.


Shown in March 2022 throughout TV and online, the ad showed the guy being in a living-room next to his sweetheart, his phone to play one of the firm's wagering video games.


His sweetheart's mother brings the couple a beverage, after which his sweetheart poses the concern to which the male reacts without thinking, while continuing to look at his phone. Following his girlfriend's incredulous stare, the guy returns, ashamed, to playing the wagering game.


The advert's storyteller then states: "So no matter how severely you pack it up, you'll always get another chance with Paddy Power video games".


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The advertisement got three complaints from audiences, all of which were upheld. One complainant said the ad showed the guy was so preoccupied with gambling it had actually led him to make an "inappropriate remark".


The UK's marketing guard dog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) stated the ad "encouraged recurring gaming" since it "portrayed gambling as taking top priority in life, over family".


A Paddy Power spokesperson told the BBC the firm was "committed to responsible practice and it is always our intention to abide by the Advertising Codes. We accept the choice of the ASA and will consider its wider assistance moving forwards".


The plaintiffs to the ASA thought that the guy was represented as letting gambling take top priority over his domesticity and was "socially irresponsible".


Paddy Power protected itself to the ASA, arguing that the ad indicated a "dedication to family life", because it represented the scene of a traditional family setting, with the male joining his sweetheart's moms and dads for Sunday lunch, and was intended to be "light-hearted".


The ASA told Paddy Power that its adverts could not depict gambling as "taking priority in life, or portray, excuse or motivate gambling behaviour that was socially reckless", which the adverts could no longer be displayed in their existing form.


Clearcast, the business responsible for clearing adverts before broadcast in the UK, stated that it accepted the ASA ruling, and will take the guidance in to consideration when clearing future gaming ads.


The judgment follows a larger campaign by the ASA to secure down on socially careless marketing and apply harder guidelines for gambling marketing in specific.