ASA Adjudication on Daub Ltd

Ad

A TV ad, for an online bingo site, included a voice-over that stated "Join Poshbingo.com and get twenty pounds free play". Text on screen stated " … Terms & conditions apply … £20 freeplay [sic] when you deposit & spend £10 New players only".

Issue

A viewer objected that the ad was misleading, because it did not make clear that it was necessary for players to deposit and spend £20 before they could withdraw any money from their account.

BCAP TV Code

Response

Spacebar Media (Spacebar) responded on behalf of Poshbingo.com.  They said the ad clearly stated that consumers must deposit and spend £10 to receive £20, for free, to spend on bingo games; the total amount to spend would therefore be £30.  The ad did not imply that a player could withdraw money from their account having deposited only £10; it did not mention or even allude to any conditions related to withdrawals. However, the on-screen text clearly stated that terms and conditions applied.  There were many rules related to withdrawing money, which were similar to those of many other bingo sites and which differed according to the promotion and the method of initial payment; that information was available on the Poshbingo website.          

Clearcast said they were aware of the restriction on removing winnings but felt it did not need to be referred to in the ad because it only referred to the "freeplay" promotion.  If the ad had referred to how much players could win, the restriction would have been spelt out; because the ad did not make any reference to winnings, they believed the on-screen text, which stated that terms and conditions applied, was sufficient to alert viewers to the fact that restrictions existed.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted that the ad did not state that players could withdraw money from their account having deposited and spent only £10 and stated "Join Poshbingo.com and get twenty pounds free play".  We considered that made clear that players would receive £20 worth of game play only. Viewers were unlikely to be misled into believing that they could withdraw that £20.  

We noted the requirement to deposit and spend £20 before withdrawing money was not relevant to the promotion but was a general condition applied to all first time withdrawals from Poshbingo.  We also noted the ad stated " ... Terms & conditions apply ... ", which we considered was sufficient to alert viewers to the fact that restrictions applied.  We considered viewers were unlikely to be misled into thinking that they could withdraw money having taken advantage of the free play on offer and concluded that the ad was not misleading.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1.1, 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 (Misleading advertising) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)