ASA Adjudication on St Minver Ltd

Ad

A TV ad promoted Littlewoods online Bingo. The ad showed animated bingo balls moving against a green background intercut with shots of two women at computer screens chatting to each other via the Littlewoods bingo chat room. The voice-over stated "Littlewoods football pools has brought billions to millions, now we bring you bingo. Come and join the fun ... Littlewoods Bingo is the name you can trust to pay out big style, with hundreds of winners and tens of thousands in prizes every single day. You can even chat and gossip in our big mates chat room ... ". The shot cut to a woman in front of a computer screen. Text on the computer screen stated "Leanne: What did you just win??? Kate: £500 ... again X".

Issue

The viewer challenged whether the ad was misleading and could encourage irresponsible gambling behaviour because it implied large sums of money could be won on multiple occasions.

BCAP TV Code

Response

Clearcast said they did not consider the ad misleading because St Minver Ltd  (St Minver) had supported the claims made for the number and amount of the payouts. They said the aim of the ad was to set out how much could be won each day, and they did not consider the brief inclusion of the text "Leanne: What did you just win??? Kate: £500 ... again X" on the computer screen would mislead viewers about the frequency of winnings.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted Clearcast's comments. Although St Minver did not send evidence that set out the odds of winning £500 twice in a row, we considered viewers would understand that the scenario depicted in the ad did not represent a typical user's experience, and the brief inclusion of the text on the computer screen was unlikely to encourage irresponsible gambling behaviour. We concluded the ad was not misleading.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising) and 11.10.1(a) (Gambling) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)