The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) has recently ruled in favour of a complaint about a TV and Video-on-Demand advert promoting the operator Paddy Power. The ad, which the two viewers saw back in March of this year, showed a young man playing the operator’s Wonder Wheel game in front of his partner and mother-in-law. It appeared that the man was preoccupied with the game as he managed to make an inappropriate comment about his MIL while distracted.
The complainants were concerned that such behaviour was irresponsible as it “portrayed gambling as taking priority in life”. They also took issue with the voice-over line, “So no matter how badly you stuff it up, you’ll always get another chance with Paddy Power Games”. While the ASA recognised that the advert’s tone was meant to be light-hearted, it also felt that it implied gambling should take priority over family and, therefore, ruled that it must not appear again in its current form.
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