However, no one complained!
I have posted before on the ASA rules on gambling and that these were updated in October 2022.
The changes were made to try and prevent those under 18 from seeing ads for betting and gambling products and services by not associating them with youth culture.
The new rules mean that people or characters who will appeal to those under 18 should not be used in an advertising campaign.
In reality, this means that popular stars in sports and in the media will not be able to promote betting services.
In the UK, this will mean that in sports that attract a youth following like football and cricket, both players and managers will be off limits in promotions.
In football, for example, this will mean players and managers of the national teams, the Premier League and maybe the Championship will not be allowed to feature.
This is something Ladbrokes found out to their detriment.
In the month the rules came in, they sent out a promoted tweet:
“Can these big summer signings make the question marks over their performances go away?”
The video embedded in the tweet showed Premier League footballers Philippe Coutinho, Jesse Lingard and Kalidou Koulibaly, set against a background of question marks, together with “Ladbrokes” in an image box.
The ASA received no complaints about the tweet, so you ask, how did it become the subject of an ASA investigation?
The ASA themselves challenged whether the ad broke the new rules.
Ladbrokes said they did everything to remove those under 18s from the ad’s audience.
Trouble was, they choose Twitter, and despite their own internal targeting and age-gating processes, Twitter allows self-verification and everyone knows that some children will lie if they think they will get something they’re not supposed to have.
So, had the ad appeared in a different medium where there could be proper age verification, it probably would have been ok.
An example of the Right Message and the Right Time, but the Wrong Audience because the Wrong Medium I think!
Ladbrokes thought they had got it right but get one element wrong and you can derail your whole campaign.