Paddy Power Ad Ban For Gambling Taking Priority

15 June 2022
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An advert for betting firm Paddy Power has been prohibited for motivating repeated gambling, by showing it taking top priority over household.


The advert includes a woman asking her partner "Do you believe I'll wind up looking like my mum?".


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


The company said it accepted the decision from the advertising regulator and would think about the guidance it had actually been given.


Displayed in March 2022 across TV and online, the ad revealed the male sitting in a living room beside his sweetheart, whilst utilizing his phone to play among the company's wagering games.


His sweetheart's mother brings the couple a beverage, after which his sweetheart positions the question to which the male responds without thinking, while continuing to look at his phone. Following his girlfriend's incredulous look, the man returns, ashamed, to playing the wagering video game.


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


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


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


A Paddy Power representative told the BBC the firm was "devoted to responsible practice and it is always our intent to abide by the Advertising Codes. We accept the decision of the ASA and will consider its broader assistance moving forwards".


The complainants to the ASA thought that the male was represented as letting gambling take concern over his family life and was "socially irresponsible".


Paddy Power defended itself to the ASA, arguing that the ad suggested a "dedication to family life", given that it represented the scene of a traditional household setting, with the guy joining his sweetheart'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 concern in life, or depict, excuse or motivate gambling behaviour that was socially careless", which the adverts could no longer be displayed in their present kind.


Clearcast, the company accountable for clearing adverts before broadcast in the UK, said 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 advertising and use harder guidelines for betting marketing in specific.