The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) published a ruling in favour of Ladbrokes Betting & Gaming Ltd, replacing the one issued on August 24th, 2016. The UK advertising regulatory watchdog reversed its previous decision, changing the complaint’s status from “Upheld” to “Not Upheld”.
As Casino Guardian has previously reported that ASA had banned an e-mail advertisement of Ladbrokes, after the complainant challenged the watchdog saying that the advert was socially irresponsible. The e-mail ad was received on May 2016 and featured an image of Marvel’s to promote a special offer, but was found as inappropriate for under-aged persons by the complainant.
At the time when the investigation against Ladbrokes Betting & Gaming’s ad was initiated, the UK betting and gaming company explained that the e-mail offers were sent to either already registered customers or customers who had been over 18 years old. The gambling operator further said that the e-mail ad featuring the image would not have been sent to any children.
At first, the Advertising Standards Authority upheld the accusation against Ladbrokes, as according to it, the advert could have been found attractive by children and young people. It referred to the data provided by Ladbrokes and said that the e-mail could have been sent to adult players, but insisted that the image used in the advertisement could also have been considered as attractive by under-aged persons.
At that time, the ASA concluded that the e-mail ad of the gambling company violated the CAP code rules 16.3 and 16.3.12 and required from the operator to make sure that the advert was not released in that form any more.
Ladbrokes Betting & Gaming appealed the ruling, so the Advertising Standards Authority considered the information related to the appeal once again. At the time of the second investigation, the UK advertising regulatory watchdog understood that Comic Con events were normally aimed at adult users. It also became clear that comic books were often incorporated in this type of advertisements, as well as science fiction and fantasy literature and films.
In addition, the ASA understood Iron Man was a popular character not only among young children, but among adults as well. Still, the watchdog took into account the fact that the advert featuring the Iron Man image was e-mailed to customers who had already had accounts with Ladbrokes or users who had been validated as adults.
The second investigation of the ad which was initiated by the ASA was carried out under CAP Code rules 16.1 and 16.3.12 concerning Gambling. At time, however, the watchdog did not find the ad in breach of these rules, as the Advertising Standards Authority found that it was highly unlikely that the ad would reach any under-aged persons. The UK watchdog also concluded that the ad was not irresponsible as claimed by the complainant, so no further actions were necessary.
- Author
Daniel Williams
