Advertisers of risky products or activities such as gambling are required to act responsibly. One important aspect of this is the duty to avoid targeting youth. The advertising Codes which UK operators must comply with are designed to ensure that gambling adverts are not of particular appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture.
The Advertising Standards Authority’s recent ruling on a complaint regarding two Paddy Power TV ads provides helpful guidance on how gambling advertisers can stay on the right (responsible) side of the line. (https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/ppb-counterparty-services-ltd-g22-1176149-ppb-counterparty-services-ltd.html)
The Christmas themed TV ads featuring former professional footballer, Peter Crouch, were alleged to breach the Code because Peter Crouch was likely to be of strong appeal to those under 18 years of age.
Betting ads for football, are considered to have strong appeal to under-18s and are therefore prohibited unless steps had been taken to limit the potential for the ad to appeal strongly to under-18s. This includes limiting the use of people who were likely to have strong appeal to under-18s.
The ASA concluded that Peter Crouch did not have "strong appeal" to under 18s and rejected the complaint because:
- Although he was not long retired, in the last 8 years of his career he played for two not particularly popular clubs, the most recent of which had used him only six times, always as a substitute.
- His social media profile was limited (no public profiles on Facebook, TikTok or Twitch and he had not posted on his Instagram for a long time) .
-He had a very small number of followers on Twitter who were aged under 18 (the ASA accepted data regarding the demographic of his followers on Twitter despite noting that “…Twitter was a media environment where users self-verified on customer sign-up and did not use robust age-verification.”)
- His football -related TV programmes and a podcast were primarily aimed at adult audiences.
- His commercial partnerships were with adult focused brands.
Although he had been a panelist on a popular show, The Masked Dancer - a show which audience figures demonstrated appealed to children - the show was of broad demographic appeal and that there was no evidence that his role in the programme had led to him being viewed in an aspirational or influential way by under-18s.
Overall, the ruling is a worthwhile read for those charged with ensuring that risky products are marketed responsibly.
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