… Ladbrokes will be hoping not!
Have you been keeping up with the rollercoaster ride of Ladbrokes and their gambling ads
You may remember my previous mention of the ASA’s updated rules to keep betting and gambling ads away from the under-18s.
Part of these rules includes avoiding any association with youth culture by not using people or characters that appeal to those under 18 in ads.
This may seem straightforward enough, but when brands like Ladbrokes manage to stumble not once, not twice, but thrice since these rules came into effect last October, maybe they’re not as simple as first it seems.
⚽ First off, we had a football fiasco.
Ladbrokes sent out a promotional tweet right when the rules kicked in, raising interest from the ASA. The tweet posed the question, “Can these big summer signings make the question marks over their performances go away?”
The video embedded in the tweet featured Premier League footballers Philippe Coutinho, Jesse Lingard, and Kalidou Koulibaly, all surrounded by question marks, and the “Ladbrokes” logo.
Ladbrokes claimed they did everything to prevent those under 18 from seeing the ad, using their own targeting and age-gating techniques.
But there’s a problem here: Twitter allows self-verification, so Ladbrokes could not prevent children who had lied about their age from seeing the tweet.
🥊 Then we had a boxing blunder.
The ASA considers boxing an adult-oriented sport with a low appeal to under-18s. But when you pair this with a big social media following, the problems start!
A promoted tweet featured Jake Paul, a guy known more for his YouTube shenanigans and a whopping social media following of around 65 million people. Mr Paul turned his hand to boxing a few years back, and the tweet followed his defeat by Tommy Fury. It included a poll asking what’s next for him.
Paul’s under 18 following is only around 3 million across all the social media platforms, and he has no followers on Twitter. However, the guidance suggests that if a sportsperson has a limited following among under-18s but is widely recognised for their social media presence and media profile, this makes them more likely to attract the younger crowd.
And to make matters worse, Jake Paul was a child actor, appearing on children’s TV! No surprise then the complaint was upheld.
⚽ But wait, there’s more! Football strikes again.
Two promoted tweets featuring Premier League managers Eddie Howe, David Moyes, Frank Lampard, Brendan Rodgers, and Gary O’Neil caught the ASA’s attention.
These managers are well-known to football followers, especially fans of the clubs they managed, which include children.
And Premier League football managers are considered high-risk, as they tend to be of strong appeal to under-18s.
But guess what? Ladbrokes, once again, went with Twitter, relying on self-verified customer sign-ups. As they’d seen in the first case, this approach doesn’t exclude a young audience with the accuracy required for these types of ads.
Some people don’t worry about the ASA, well they can’t fine you can they, but the effect their rulings can have on your reputation can’t be underplayed.
The boxing one was unfortunate I think, but with 2 complaints involving football stars, I think Ladbrokes can do better!