The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a Sky Bet advert featuring former footballer Gary Neville for breaking gambling rules by “being likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s”.
The promoted tweet for Sky Bet was posted earlier this and contained an embedded video clip from the Overlap football podcast.
In this clip, Gary Neville is seen discussing which team might win the Premier League, while the Sky Best logo appears intermittently throughout the video.
The video concluded with a test that stated “BROUGHT TO YOU BY SKY BET”, alongside the BeGambleAware logo, and was supported by text in the caption that again addressed the football star.
The text read: “Is Gary changing his title prediction? [eyes emoji] Thanks to Man City, It seems @GNev2 is having a change of heart [sweat grinning emoji][trophy emoji] Part three of The Overlap Fan Debate is out now [television emoji]”.
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Challenging whether the advert included an individual who was likely to be of strong appeal to those under 18, the ASA declared the advert to have breached the regulation Code.
Yet Sky Bet responded stating it had “worked extensively” with CAP to “ensure their ads complied with the requirements”, adding they firmly believed Gary Neville did not hold a strong appal to under-18s.
Acknowledging the star was well known for his time at Premier League club Manchester United and for winning the FA Youth Cup in 1992 – they pointed out this victory was 18-years ago and that Neville was “long retired”.
Pointing out Neville new ventures outside football, they added that Neville as 47 years old at the time of the clip, and his podcasts were aimed at adults and his media profile was “consistent with his mature age”.
In addition, noting that Neville is now “well-known for being outspoken about his political views”, Sky Bet also provided data of the former-footballer’s social media accounts, showing that of 1.6 million Instagram followers, only 5% were aged 13-17.
Yet the ASA responded that, “Although they made up a small proportion” of the star’s social media followers, they still deemed over 135,000 followers aged under 18 was a significant number in absolute terms.
The UK’s advertising watchdog deemed the ad ‘irresponsible’ and breaching the code, ordering Sky Bet to not feature a person or character who could appeal to kids.
