ASA Adjudication on Victor Chandler

Ad

Poster, for VC poker.com, that showed a picture of a woman pouting and stated “You love sex. She loves sex. You love money. She loves money. You have money. She loves you. See how much you have in common?”.

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the ad was irresponsible, because it linked gambling with financial and sexual success.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Victor Chandler (VC) said they believed the ad complied with the CAP Code and did not encourage excessive gambling. They said the ad had been used to promote an online poker tournament held in January 2007 and had since been discontinued. They provided copies of other gambling ads for similar tournaments that they believed showed aspirational messages were commonly used by the gambling industry to promote tournaments. They explained that the ad was based on the idea that "everyone loves a winner", and said the visual of the woman and the corresponding text was only used to gain attention. They explained they had acted responsibly by ensuring the poster was placed in the gentlemen's toilets of licensed premises, to limit the target audience to men older than 18. They argued that the ad invited readers to text a number to see if they could win free entry into the poker tournament, and not to gamble directly. VC also pointed out that the ad had not invited readers to gamble unwisely or excessively, because their own money was not at stake in the tournament if they won the free entry.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA acknowledged VC's comments, but noted the ad contained the general poker website address several times: we did not accept VC's argument that the ad did not advertise online poker or gambling directly. We understood that gambling was a leisure activity for most people and a career for a few. We considered that the message of the ad went beyond the idea of "everyone loves a winner", by implying that gambling was more than entertainment and was a viable option for people wanting to improve their sex life by winning money. We considered that the image of the woman and the text "You love sex. She loves sex. You love money. She loves money. You have money. She loves you" linked having money with sexual success. We also considered that the text "See how much you have in common?" reinforced the implication that men, even if socially inept, could obtain sexual success because they had money and that the more money they had, the greater the likelihood of sexual success. Because of that, we concluded that the ad was irresponsible and likely to exploit the socially vulnerable.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.2 (Responsible advertising) and 54.3 (Betting and gaming).

Action

The ad should not be repeated.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)