Background
Summary of Council decision;
8 issues investigated. 6 Upheld and 2 Not Upheld
Ad description
Two websites, www.fun88.co.uk and www.letou.co.uk, for online gambling seen in January 2018 promoting various games with graphical content:
a. The first game called “feathered frenzy slot” featured an animated image of two birds.
b. The second game called “DRAGON’S MYTH” featured an animated image of a young looking girl and a dragon.
c. The third game called "Faeries Fortune" featured an animated image of a pixie.
d. The fourth game called “Castle BUILDER” featured an animated image of a castle, a princess and three men.
e. The fifth game called "Robyn" featured an animated image of a young looking girl with long blonde hair.
f. The sixth game called “SANTA PAWS” featured an animated image of a polar bear wearing a Santa hat, a cub polar bear, two penguins and a rabbit.
g. The eighth game called “Secret Santa Online Slot” featured an image of a fireplace with Christmas decorations.
h. The seventh game called “SANTA’S WILD RIDE” featured a badge in the shape of shield and was coloured in a dark red tone with a silver outline.
Ads (a)–(e) appeared on www.fun88.co.uk and ads (f)–(h) appeared on www.letou.co.uk.
Issue
Fairer Gambling challenged whether the graphical content of ads (a)–(h) was likely to be of particular appeal to children.
Response
TGP Europe Ltd stated that the advertised games had been removed before they received details of the complaint. However, they explained that the games were produced by a third-party software company and appeared on other websites run by different gambling operators.
TGP Europe stated that they were fully aware of the ASA’s requirements when it came to marketing gambling products. With that in mind, they reviewed their website and removed a number of games in 2017. Furthermore, they placed demo games behind registration in order to prevent anyone under-18 years of age playing for free.
TGP Europe stated that assessing whether a gambling ad had particular appeal to under-18s was highly subjective. For example, they disagreed that anything to do with Santa Claus was automatically of greater appeal to children than to adults. Furthermore, they believed that the concept of secret Santa was very much an adult one.
TGP believed that the themes of castles and dragons were currently popular because of a famous TV programme series aimed at adults.
Assessment
Upheld in relation to ads (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) only.
The ASA welcomed TGP Europe's action in removing the ads in question from their websites (www.fun88.co.uk and www.letou.co.uk).
We acknowledged that visitors to the websites could now no longer play in demo mode for any of the games, unless they logged into their account. We understood that this was a permanent change TGP Europe had made to both of their websites.
However, the ads in question appeared on unrestricted parts of the websites at the time Fairer Gambling had seen them.
The CAP Code stated that gambling ads must not be likely to be of particular appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture. Gambling ads could not therefore appeal more strongly to under-18s than they did to over-18s.
We considered that the use of animated imagery and references to Santa Claus (Father Christmas) in gambling ads carried the risk of having particular appeal to under-18s, and was therefore important that they were used with caution.
The game in ad (a) ("feathered frenzy slot") featured two animated birds, which were highly stylised with exaggerated features. This included their brightly coloured, disproportioned podgy bodies, large eyes and beaks. We considered that this depicted the birds in a cuddly and cute manner, which also resembled characters from films/TV programmes that were targeted at under-18s, particularly children.
Because of that, we considered ad (a) was likely to appeal more strongly to under-18s than to over-18s.
The game in ad (b) ("Dragon's Myth") featured an animated dragon and a young looking girl. The dragon was animated in an intricate manner and drawn in lightly coloured tones, which we considered would not have particular appeal to under-18s. However, we noted that the girl was wearing an outfit similar to a school uniform and had pigtail plaits, which was a reflection of youth culture and reinforced her young appearance. Furthermore, we noted that she was highly stylised with her big eyes and face being disproportionately bigger than her thin neck. We considered that her physical appearance resembled animated characters from films/TV programmes that were targeted at under-18s, particularly young children.
Because of that, we considered that ad (b) was likely to appeal more strongly to under-18s than to over-18s.
The game in ad (c) ("Faeries Fortune") featured a fairy and whilst "Faeries" had been spelt in a different manner, it was clear that the game was being advertised as having a fairy theme to it. We noted that the fairy appeared to be adult in nature, particularly given that she was showing a degree of cleavage.
However, we considered that fairies were highly popular amongst young children, particularly girls and because of that, we considered ad (c) was likely to appeal more strongly to under-18s than to over-18s.
The game in ad (d) ("Castle BUILDER") featured an animated image that included a castle and four different characters. We noted that the image was very colourful and that all four characters' body shapes and facial features were highly disproportioned and stylised in a manner which we considered resembled characters from films that were targeted at under-18s, particularly young children.
We noted that one character in ad (d) appeared to be a princess wearing a gown and crown, looking out from her tower in admiration towards a man who appeared to be singing to her with a gittern on his back, which we considered was an obvious depiction of a scene from a popular children's fairy tale story.
Because of that, we considered that ad (d) was likely to appeal more strongly to under-18s than to over-18s.
The game in ad (e) ("Robyn") featured an animated image of a young looking girl. We noted that her facial features and body shape were highly stylised and disproportionate. Her head was much larger than her body and she had an exceedingly thin neck. Furthermore, she had large eyes and a very small nose with wavy long blonde hair. We considered that her physical depiction resembled characters from "princess" themed films targeted at under-18s, particularly young children.
Because of that, we considered that ad (e) was likely to appeal more strongly to under-18s than to over-18s.
The game in ad (f) ("SANTA PAWS") featured a white polar bear, a cub polar bear, penguins and a rabbit. We noted that the rabbit, cub bear and penguins had large eyes and along with the polar bear, all had a loving smile, which we considered depicted them in an innocent, cute and cuddly manner – almost child-like.
We considered that Santa Claus would have appeal to both children and adults, but that it was crucial that any such association with the fictional character in a gambling ad did not have particular appeal to under-18s. We noted that the ad made specific reference to "SANTA PAWS", which we considered was childish.
Because of that, we considered ad (f) was likely to appeal more strongly to under-18s than to over-18s
The game in ad (g) ("Secret Santa Online Slot") was written in gold and appeared within an animated image of a fireplace with Christmas decorations. We considered that such a generic image of a Christmas environment did not associate/reflect Santa Claus with today's youth culture. Furthermore, we considered that the concept of secret Santa was much more associated with adults than to under-18s.
Because of that, we considered that ad (g) was unlikely to appeal more strongly to under-18s than to over-18s.
The game in ad (h) ("SANTA'S WILD RIDE") featured an animated image of what appeared to resemble a badge in the shape of a shield, and was coloured in a dark red tone with a silver outline. The name of the game was written on the badge in a light yellow/golden colour with the word "WILD" being given more prominence. We considered that this was a standard image using a mild colour scheme that did not feature any graphics that would be of particular interest in today's youth culture.
Because of that, we considered that the ad was unlikely to appeal more strongly to under-18s than to over-18s.
Therefore, because we considered ads (a), (b), (c) (d), (e) and (f) featured animated images that were likely to be of particular appeal to under-18s and were marketing gambling products, we concluded that they breached the CAP Code.
However, we considered ads (g) and (h) did not feature animated images that were likely to be of particular appeal to under-18s and we concluded they did not breach the CAP Code.
Ads (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 16.1 16.1 Marketing communications for gambling must be socially responsible, with particular regard to the need to protect children, young persons and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited. 16.3 16.3 Marketing communications must not: and 16.3.12 16.3.12 be likely to be of particular appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture (Gambling).
We investigated ads (g) and (h) under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 16.1 16.1 Marketing communications for gambling must be socially responsible, with particular regard to the need to protect children, young persons and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited. 16.3 16.3 Marketing communications must not: and 16.3.12 16.3.12 be likely to be of particular appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture (Gambling), but did not find them in breach.
Action
Ads (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) should not appear again in the form complained of. We told TGP Europe Ltd to ensure that their gambling ads did not have particular appeal to under-18s.
