The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) investigated two issues against the gambling operator 32Red and eventually upheld both.
The complaints were filed by one person against two paid-for Google search ads for the products of the online casino operator 32Red. The ads were displayed in the Google search results and by the complainant on April 25th, 2019 after they entered the term “jack and the beanstalk”.
We've published our latest batch of rulings https://t.co/dbGYsX8oPm No fairy tale ending when we saw red over a gambling ad directed at U18s; beauty clinics' ads banned for promoting Botox (illegal); advertiser's ruin for a gin brand; and, we poured cold water on a 'too hot' ad. pic.twitter.com/wocYPN0lI3
— ASA (@ASA_UK) September 25, 2019
The first advert was a promotion for a 150% bonus of up to £150 provided by 32Red and was also aimed at popularising the first deposit bonus and the daily offers of the Gibraltar-based online gambling company. Another advert was also promoting the online casino services, including table games, online slots, progressive jackpot games and live casino, along with the daily offers and special bonuses of the company.
The Advertising Standards Authority challenged whether the two adverts were likely to attract children because of the association with the popular story “Jack and the Beanstalk”. The Authority also challenged whether the ad was focusing on individuals under 18 years of age through the selection of context or media in which such individuals could appear.
32Red Should Be More Careful When Targeting Its Future Gambling Ads
The online gambling operator confirmed that the adverts were displayed as part of a group of adverts which targeted Google users who have entered search terms that corresponded with the titles of games provided by 32Red, and “Jack and the Beanstalk” was one of them.
The company further explained that they classified the aforementioned game as a high-risk game so that visitors of their website would not be able to see the game in question unless they had verified their age. 32Red explained that in this case, the game had been included in the slot games list on their website by mistake. The online casino operator said they removed the adverts for the game as soon as they learned about the error and checked whether other games described as high-risk ones were not being subject to advertising.
The gambling operator had unveiled some measures to make sure that such high-risk games did not appear in search lists for ad targeting any more.
At the time when the ASA investigated the adverts, it noted that the first page of organic search results for the keywords “jack and the beanstalk” all related to the popular children’s fairy tale. What the authority noticed was that the only reference to the fairy tale was in the 32Red’s title, but the operator had used a plain font which did not include any imagery which could have been child-friendly.
However, due to the popularity of the children’s fairy tale, the reference to Jack and the Beanstalk could be found particularly appealing by children. The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the Gibraltar-based gambling company had not been careful enough when targeting the ad only at individuals who are at least 18 years old. Therefore, it found that the two 32Red ads violated CAP Code rules 16.1, 16.3, 16.3.12 and 16.3.13 related to gambling.
The Authority welcomed the actions which the 32Red took to remove the ads and reminded that the adverts must not appear in the form complained of any more. Also, the regulator told the gambling operator that it must be more careful to not release ads which are not well-targeted or could be found particularly appealing by individuals aged below 18 years of age.
- Author
Olivia Cole
