Background
Summary of Council decision:
Three issues were investigated, all of which were Upheld.
Ad description
An Instagram story on Sam Gowland’s Instagram page for Thebettingman, a gambling advice service, seen on 2 June 2020. The captions stated “I told use [sic] Thursday night if u wanted to make money the betting man is the way forward for £25! 12 wins out of 14 this weekend and another winner this morning”, “£450 quid up this weekend and over £1k up for the week! And that’s the reason I tell use [sic] to join”, and “£25 to join vip group swipe up to get in the group for tonight’s bets and the rest of the weeks bets”, followed by “Best second source of income I’ve ever had … hence the new car I’m getting … not bad for £25” and “To join vip tips group swipe up and watch the profits roll in like the rest of the members”.
Swiping up on the story took users to Thebettingman’s website, www.thebettingman.co.uk, which invited users to join their service.
Issue
1. The complainant challenged whether the ad was obviously identifiable as a marketing communication.
The ASA challenged whether the ad was irresponsible for:
2. suggesting that using betting tipsters was a way of achieving financial security, and
3. featuring a young person under 25 years of age to promote a gambling advice service.
Response
1., 2. & 3. Person(s) unknown t/a TBM Enterprises and Thebettingman said that they did not ask Mr Gowland to post the story. However, they said that the post should have included the ‘ad’ label and should have included the hashtags #18+ and #gambleresponsibly, and these would be included in any future stories. Sam Gowland stated that the ad was a promotional post and that he had subsequently read the ASA’s guidance and would be labelling any future ads with the identifier ‘#ad’.Assessment
1. Upheld
The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such, and marketers and publishers must make clear that advertorials were marketing communications. The ASA understood that Sam Gowland was promoting Thebettingman’s tipster service. The story featured Sam Gowland encouraging viewers to join a betting tipster group and included a swipe up link to Thebettingman’s website. However, we considered that those elements did not indicate to users that the post was a marketing communication before users engaged with its content.
We acknowledged that both Thebettingman and Sam Gowland understood that the Instagram story should have been labelled as an ad and we welcomed their assurances that future promotional posts would be labelled with the identifier ‘#ad’. Nevertheless, in the absence of a clear and prominent identifier on the story itself, such as “#ad”, we concluded that the story was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication and that it breached the Code.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 2.1 2.1 Marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such. and 2.3 2.3 Marketing communications must not falsely claim or imply that the marketer is acting as a consumer or for purposes outside its trade, business, craft or profession; marketing communications must make clear their commercial intent, if that is not obvious from the context. (Recognition of marketing communications).
2. Upheld
Thebettingman was a subscription based gambling advice service which required users to sign up in order to receive tips on sporting bets. Although we acknowledged that some consumers who made use of the service provided by Thebettingman would be exposed to gambling services, the service was not itself gambling. However, we considered that the purpose of the service was to facilitate gambling and we therefore assessed the ads with that in mind.
The ad referred to how much money Sam Gowland said he had made in the last week, “£450 quid up this weekend and over £1k up for the week” as well as stating that using the service was the “Best second source of income I’ve ever had … hence the new car I’m getting”. We considered that those claims implied users of the service would win large sums in a short space of time, and that such sums would be won on a regular basis. We considered that implied that Thebettingman’s service could be a way to achieve financial security. Although the betting tipster service was not itself gambling, because its purpose was to facilitate gambling, we considered that the ad was irresponsible.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.3 1.3 Marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society. (Social responsibility).
3. Upheld
We understood that at the time the ad was seen, Sam Gowland was 24 years old. Although the service promoted was not itself gambling, we considered that the purpose of the service was to facilitate gambling. We therefore considered that because the ad featured a young person under the age of 25 promoting a betting tipster service which facilitated gambling, the ad was irresponsible.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 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 no longer appear in the form complained of. We told Person(s) unknown t/a TBM Enterprises and Thebettingman and Sam Gowland to ensure that their ads were obviously identifiable as marketing communications, for example by including a clear and prominent identifier such as #ad. We told them to ensure that their ads did not suggest that using betting tipsters was a way of achieving financial security, and not to feature a young person under 25 years of age to promote a gambling advice service.
