Is someone having a laugh or what? The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) yesterday announced their findings after a complaint was made to them about the television marketing campaign by Ladbrokes Bingo. The advert was called into question after a “viewer complaint” that the advert went against the standards set on gambling advertising by depicting the woman as being “sad and lonely” and running away from her problems.
The Ladbrokes Bingo advert in question is the one where a couple are sat at a dining room table and the husband is fiddling with some car part or other. The wife looks distinctly bored and when he offers her a sniff of the said car part she gets up and walks away to play internet bingo at Ladbrokes Bingo.
Ladbrokes Bingo vehemently denied this by saying that the advert was humorous and looked at the funny side of how many couples in today’s day and age don’t share the same interests. Luckily the ASA agreed with Ladbrokes Bingo and their final adjudication was that there is no further action required.
Ladbrokes Bingo is just the latest internet bingo site whose television campaigns have come under scrutiny by the ASA – previously Foxy Bingo and William Hill Bingo have also had complaints levied to the ASA about them. Foxy Bingo were lucky too as the ASA released the same adjudication for them as they did Ladbrokes Bingo. William Hill Bingo however did not fair so well and they had to stop showing their advert.
The complaint about all three internet bingo sites to my mind are all small minded and petty so is it actually a member of the public complaining or is there a greater force at work here?
Ladbrokes Bingo complaint
Ladbrokes Bingo advert portrays a woman who was lonely and depressed because she had lost her connection with her husband and escaped her personal problems by playing internet bingo.
Foxy Bingo complaint
Viewer challenges that the Foxy Bingo character would appeal to younger children.
William Hill Bingo complaint
The complaints received suggested that the William Hill Bingo advert showed someone addicted to gambling who was trying to hide it from her family.
For Ladbrokes Bingo there was just one viewer complaint, for Foxy Bingo just one complaint but for William Hill Bingo there were three complaints. I truly believe that these complaints aren’t coming from a member of the public but from rival internet bingo sites who are trying to undermine the value of the other internet bingo sites.
