Paddy Power has had one of its TV and VOD ads banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for encouraging socially irresponsible gambling behaviour.
The news comes months after the brand had an ad banned for voicing terms and conditions too quickly.
During the advertisement, a young man plays Paddy Power’s ‘Wonder Wheel’ mobile game in a living room while his girlfriend’s family is present. He briefly looks away from his phone to thank his mother-in-law for the tray of drinks she has brought into the room.
Returning his attention to the Roulette game, he is then asked by his girlfriend, “Do you think I will end up looking like my Mum?”
He replies, “I hope so”, before realising he has made a wildly inappropriate comment in front of the whole family.
READ MORE: Michael Owen deletes NFT tweet after ASA contact
A voice-over for the ad then states: “With Paddy Power’s Wonder Wheel you get a free spin with a chance to win cash prizes every single day”.
“So no matter how badly you stuff it up, you’ll always get another chance with Paddy Power games.”
Several complainants challenged whether the ad was socially irresponsible as it appeared to portray gambling as taking priority in life and also encouraged repeated gambling in the face of a loss.
Paddy Power responded to these claims by first pointing out that the scene was intended to depict a post-lunch slump in which the family were now free to do their own thing after they had all adjourned to the living room.
The brand noted that the boyfriend had not left the room to play the game separately from the family so the action could not be deemed as concealing gambling from loved ones. Ad clearance service Clearcast supported these claims.
Paddy Power also added that he was aware of his surroundings and acknowledged the people around him several times throughout the ad. This included his apologetic look to his girlfriend once the inappropriate comment was made.
READ MORE: Top 10 most complained-about TV ads in the UK
“The gambling brand understood that Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) guidance said it was generally acceptable for marketing communications to show gambling as being interesting to the characters portrayed or as an entertaining leisure activity, as long as it was not to the exclusion of other activities or interactions with people,” the ASA said.
The company also claimed that promoting one free spin a day was not encouraging repeated gambling in the face of a loss as it was “merely a free game where players have one spin in any period of 24 hours.”
While the advertising watchdog recognised the light-hearted comedic tone of the ad, it nevertheless concluded that most viewers would understand that the young man behaved in a way which was not appropriate at a family event because he was distracted by gambling.
“We considered the young man then became engaged in his gambling game to the extent that he made an unwitting and embarrassing comment aloud, which was clearly not his intent and was clearly caused by his distraction and investment in the gambling game,” the authority added.
Concluding that the ad portrayed gambling as taking priority over family life and encouraged repetitive or frequent participation in gambling, the ASA told Paddy Power to remove the ads in their current form.
Click here to sign up to Marketing Beat’s free daily email newsletter
