Paddy Power Ad Ban For Gambling Taking Priority
15 June 2022
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An advert for betting firm Paddy Power has actually been banned for motivating repetitive betting, by revealing it taking priority over family.
The advert features a lady asking her sweetheart "Do you believe I'll end up looking like my mum?".
He, distracted by a gaming app, responds "I hope so".
The company said it accepted the choice from the marketing regulator and would think about the guidance it had been given.
Shown in March 2022 across TV and online, the advertisement showed the male sitting in a beside his sweetheart, whilst utilizing his phone to play among the firm's betting games.
His sweetheart's mother brings the couple a drink, after which his girlfriend postures the concern to which the man reacts without thinking, while continuing to gaze at his phone. Following his sweetheart's incredulous gaze, the man returns, embarrassed, to playing the wagering game.
The advert's storyteller then mentions: "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 received 3 complaints from viewers, all of which were upheld. One complainant said the ad showed the male was so preoccupied with betting it had actually led him to make an "improper remark".
The UK's marketing watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the advertisement "motivated recurring gaming" because it "portrayed gaming as taking top priority in life, over family".
A Paddy Power representative informed the BBC the firm was "devoted to accountable practice and it is constantly our intention to adhere to the Advertising Codes. We accept the decision of the ASA and will consider its broader guidance moving forwards".
The plaintiffs to the ASA believed that the male was portrayed as letting gaming take concern over his domesticity and was "socially reckless".
Paddy Power defended itself to the ASA, arguing that the advertisement suggested a "commitment to domesticity", since it portrayed the scene of a traditional family setting, with the guy 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 betting as "taking top priority in life, or depict, condone or motivate gambling behaviour that was socially reckless", and that the adverts could no longer be shown in their present form.
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 judgment follows a larger project by the ASA to secure down on socially careless marketing and apply tougher guidelines for gambling advertising in particular.