Paddy Power Ad Ban For Gambling Taking Priority

15 June 2022
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An advert for wagering company Paddy Power has been banned for encouraging repeated gaming, by revealing it taking priority over family.


The advert includes a lady asking her boyfriend "Do you think I'll end up looking like my mum?".


He, distracted by a gambling app, replies "I hope so".


The business said it accepted the decision from the and would think about the assistance it had been provided.


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


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


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


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The ad received three problems from audiences, all of which were upheld. One complainant stated the advertisement showed 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) said the ad "motivated repetitive betting" due to the fact that it "portrayed gambling as taking concern in life, over household".


A Paddy Power spokesperson told the BBC the firm was "committed to responsible practice and it is always our objective to comply with the Advertising Codes. We accept the decision of the ASA and will consider its wider guidance moving forwards".


The plaintiffs to the ASA thought that the man was represented as letting betting take priority over his household life and was "socially reckless".


Paddy Power safeguarded itself to the ASA, arguing that the ad suggested a "dedication to family life", given that it depicted the scene of a standard family setting, with the male joining his girlfriend's parents for Sunday lunch, and was planned to be "light-hearted".


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


Clearcast, the company responsible for clearing adverts before broadcast in the UK, stated that it accepted the ASA ruling, and will take the assistance in to consideration when clearing future gambling ads.


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