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 showing it taking concern over family.


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


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


The business 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 advertisement revealed the guy sitting in a living-room beside his sweetheart, whilst using his phone to play one of the company's wagering games.


His girlfriend's mother brings the couple a drink, after which his girlfriend presents the concern to which the man responds without believing, while continuing to stare at his phone. Following his girlfriend's incredulous look, the guy returns, ashamed, to playing the wagering video game.


The advert's storyteller then specifies: "So no matter how terribly you pack it up, you'll always get another possibility with Paddy Power games".


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The ad got three grievances from viewers, all of which were supported. One plaintiff said the advertisement revealed the man was so preoccupied with gambling it had led him to make an "improper remark".


The UK's marketing watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the advertisement "encouraged repeated gaming" since it "portrayed gaming as taking top priority in life, over family".


A Paddy Power spokesperson told the BBC the company was "devoted to responsible practice and it is constantly our intention to adhere to the Advertising Codes. We accept the decision of the ASA and will consider its more comprehensive assistance moving forwards".


The complainants to the ASA believed that the man was represented as letting betting take top priority over his domesticity and was "socially careless".


Paddy Power protected itself to the ASA, arguing that the ad suggested a "dedication to household life", considering that it portrayed the scene of a traditional household setting, with the man joining his girlfriend's parents for Sunday lunch, and was intended to be "light-hearted".


The Paddy Power that its adverts might not depict betting as "taking top priority in life, or depict, excuse or encourage betting behaviour that was socially irresponsible", which the adverts could no longer be shown in their current form.


Clearcast, the company accountable for clearing adverts before broadcast in the UK, said that it accepted the ASA judgment, and will take the guidance in to consideration when clearing future gaming advertisements.


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