Paddy Power Ad Ban For Gambling Taking Priority

15 June 2022
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An advert for betting firm Paddy Power has been banned for motivating repetitive gambling, by revealing it taking top priority over household.


The advert features a lady asking her partner "Do you think I'll end up appearing like my mum?".


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


The business stated it accepted the decision from the marketing regulator and would consider the guidance it had been provided.


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


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


The advert's narrator then specifies: "So no matter how severely you stuff it up, you'll always get another chance with Paddy Power games".


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The advertisement got three problems from audiences, all of which were upheld. One complainant said the advertisement revealed the guy was so preoccupied with gambling it had actually led him to make an "improper remark".


The UK's advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) stated the ad "motivated repeated gambling" due to the fact that it "portrayed gaming as taking priority in life, over family".


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


The plaintiffs to the ASA thought that the guy was represented as letting gambling take concern over his and was "socially careless".


Paddy Power safeguarded itself to the ASA, arguing that the ad implied a "dedication to household life", since it depicted the scene of a standard family setting, with the male joining his girlfriend's moms and dads for Sunday lunch, and was meant to be "light-hearted".


The ASA told Paddy Power that its adverts might not depict betting as "taking priority in life, or portray, excuse or motivate betting behaviour that was socially irresponsible", which the adverts could no longer be revealed in their present kind.


Clearcast, the company responsible for clearing adverts before broadcast in the UK, said that it accepted the ASA judgment, 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 reckless marketing and use harder rules for gambling advertising in particular.