Ad description
A TV ad for Jackpotjoy online bingo featured Barbara Windsor, who stated, "Welcome to the JackpotJoy Ballroom: full of my beautiful blue jackpot balls". Two men were shown loading large blue bingo balls into a giant slingshot. The balls, the foremost of which had "£10,000" written on it, were slung through the air, and landed in various locations where people were using mobile devices, before exploding and covering the people in gold glitter. Barbara stated, "Up to 10,000 jackpots every hour ..." Text stated, "up to £10,000 every hour". On-screen text along the bottom of the screen stated, "26.12.14 - 23.01.15. Up to £10K (min £170) shared/game. Max individual Jackpot Hero prize £1,000. Deposit required. Wager requirement 20 mins before game start to enter. Jackpot Hero game only. Min 13 games/day. 18+ UK only. T&Cs".
Issue
Two viewers, who had found that prizes were awarded at random intervals between 13 and 15 times a day since the start date, challenged whether the claim "up to £10,000 every hour" was misleading.
Response
Profitable Play Ltd t/a Jackpotjoy said they considered the number of times the Jackpot Hero message appeared each day to be a significant term because it was fixed at between 13 and 15 per day. They had therefore included the on-screen small print "Min 13 games/day". They said full terms and conditions were also posted on the Jackpotjoy website.
They said the Jackpot Hero message appeared 13 times per day on 26 occasions and 14 times per day on three occasions. They also said the Jackpot Hero message did not appear more than once in any hour, which they said supported the "every hour" claim made in the ad.
They said the Jackpot Hero message appeared during the 'core gaming hours' to ensure that they would reward the largest number of consumers.
Clearcast said they had questioned whether "every hour" could mislead, but said that Jackpotjoy had explained that there would be a minimum of 13 games and that a game would be available every hour during the core gaming hours, when the average person would be awake, to ensure that it gave maximum chance for entry.
They did not think the ad needed further qualification because they believed the superimposed text made clear the minimum number of games.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted that the voice-over and large on-screen text stated that there would be jackpots "every hour". We acknowledged that small text stated "Min 13 games/day", among a number of other statements, and that the jackpot messages had appeared during the hours that, on average, there were more players than at other times. We understood, however, that a number of consumers were active on the site outside of those hours, and considered that viewers would believe they would be able to win a jackpot at any time, unless it was made clear that there would be no jackpot during a particular period.
We considered that viewers would interpret the claim "every hour" to mean there would be at least one jackpot each hour, for the entire 24-hour period. We considered that the qualification "Min 13 games/day" contradicted rather than clarified the claim, and therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached BCAP Code rules 3.1 3.1 Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising) and 3.10 3.10 Advertisements must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify. (Qualification).
Action
The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form. We told Profitable Play Ltd to ensure that they did not imply that they offered a jackpot every hour if that was not the case. We also told them to ensure qualifications did not contradict the claims in their ads.
