The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has recently reprimanded UK casino online Paddy Power, for breaching advertising gambling codes. The ASA's main claim is that it is "irresponsible" for the UK casino to associate online gambling with increased admiration.
Published in the Times, the advert included a little person sitting arm in arm with two attractive women and drinking champagne in a limousine. The text read "Who says you can't make money being short?"
Despite that the intentions of the online UK casino were to associate "being short" with financial spread betting, the ASA concluded that "this man's short-coming had been overcome by the wealth he had acquired through gambling" online, and this was a breach of the new advertising codes brought into effect in September last year with the updated Gambling Act.
UK casino Paddy Power explained that their target audience, which was very particular, were capable of understanding what they call the ad's "whimsical" nature. Yet the ASA held strong that the ad implied that the man's self-esteem had been boosted by the financial success he had enjoyed from gambling, thereby promoting the ides that increased recognition and admiration can be obtained from gambling.
The UK casino online has withdrawn its ads from media outlets in the United Kingdom, following the ASA's disapproval. Other more secondary reasons for the ASA's condemnation of the ad campaign include that the UK casino had appealed to young children, because the characters wore costumes in a style similar to that seen in Japanese game-shows popular among young audiences. Furthermore, that UK casino Paddy power has depicted in its ads juvenile toilet humor, which is alluring for children.
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