Background
Summary of Council decision:
Four issues were investigated, all of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A direct mailing for Philip Murray, a horse racing tipster, seen in June 2018 included text which stated “Aren’t you sick and tired of constantly losing bet after bet? Isn’t it depressing that no matter what, you never achieve the profits you always hoped for? … Here’s a Guaranteed, Sure-fire Way to Literally CRUSH the Bookies While Exponentially Growing Your Bankroll…And Making Betting on Horse Racing Something Ridiculously Simple! … But never fear you can still join us and profit immediately … I used to read these sales letters; tipsters making thousands in a day, driving Ferraris, paying off their mortgages and huge savings accounts and be so jealous I’d nearly puke. Now I’ve become one of them. You can turn around the downward trend in betting right now … Now for the final time ever I would like to offer an opportunity to join me for the SUPER TEXT BETS … but at a Very Special Price you can now join for … TWO YEARS £89 Saving You £411”. It also contained a list of previous winners with accompanying text which stated “YES! If you joined me when I contacted you in February you would have enjoyed and profited from ALL of the above WINNERS”.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the following claims were misleading and could be substantiated.
1.“Here’s a guaranteed, sure-fire way to literally crush the bookies”;
2.“£89 Saving You £411”; and
3.“If you joined me when I contacted you in February you would have enjoyed and profited from ALL of the above Winners”.
4. The ASA challenged whether the claims about depression caused by losing bets, paying off mortgages and turning around a downward trend in betting were socially irresponsible.
Response
Philip Murray failed to respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Philip Murray’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in the future.
1. Upheld
We considered that consumers would interpret the claim “Here’s a guaranteed, sure-fire way to literally crush the bookies” to mean that if they used Philip Murray’s tipster service that they were guaranteed to win money from the bets they placed.
Philip Murray did not provide any evidence that the service they offered was guaranteed to win money for consumers. We therefore concluded that the claim was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation).
2. Upheld
We considered that consumers would interpret the claim “£89 Saving You £411” to mean that the service had previously been available for £500 and that the price of £89 represented a genuine saving, of £411, against the usual selling price. We considered that consumers would therefore be incentivised to make a purchase at that lower price.
Philip Murray did not provide any evidence that the usual selling price of the product was £500; we therefore concluded that that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising), 3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation) and 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Prices).
3. Upheld
We considered that consumers would interpret the claim “If you joined me when I contacted you in February you would have enjoyed and profited from ALL of the above Winners” to mean that Philip Murray had correctly selected the winners in all of the above races and provided tips on that basis.
Philip Murray did not provide any evidence that they had previously correctly selected and provided tips on the winners listed in the ad, and we therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation).
4. Upheld
We understood that horse racing tipping services were not licensed gambling products and did not offer consumers the ability to directly play for money or play for free and therefore the CAP Code’s rules on gambling did not apply. However, we still considered that marketing communications for such products and services needed to be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and society.
The ad included a reference to the tipster stating that they had been jealous of other tipsters who had made thousands in a day and paid off their mortgages, but that they had since become one of them. It further stated that if consumers used the tipster service offered by Philip Murray it was a “Guaranteed, Sure-fire Way to Literally CRUSH the Bookies While Exponentially Growing Your Bankroll”. Further claims included “But never fear you can still join us and profit immediately” and “If you joined me when I contacted you in February you would have enjoyed and profited from ALL of the above WINNERS”. We therefore considered that the ad linked gambling to achieving financial security.
The ad also included statements which were addressed directly to people who were facing a “downward trend” in betting, asking them if they were sick and tired of constantly losing bets and being depressed about not achieving the profits they hoped for. It specifically stated that if consumers used the tipster service offered by Philip Murray that they were “guaranteed” to make a profit. We therefore considered that the content of the ad targeted vulnerable people as it identified those who had been placing bets and not winning.
Because we considered that the ad targeted vulnerable gamblers who had not been winning and linked the tipping service to achieving financial security, we considered it to be socially irresponsible and therefore in breach of the Code.
On this point the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 1.3 Marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society. (Social responsibility).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Philip Murray to ensure in the future that they did not make savings claims, guarantee consumers would make a profit using their service or make claims that they had previously given successful tips, without holding relevant evidence substantiation. We further told them to ensure that their ads were prepared in a socially responsible way. We referred the matter to the CAP Compliance team.
