ASA rules against Paddy Power Champion's League Final advert
A TV and radio campaign for Paddy Power has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority, after it was found to be misleading.
Seven complaints were made about the TV advert which show text on a phone that claimed that a losing bet would be refunded should Barcelona bear Manchester United in normal time of the Champion’s League final.
It was claimed that small print within the advert contradicted the main claim.
One complaint was made against the campaign radio advert, which offered a refund during the same match with a refund of up to £100 on offer should Barcelona win, again with the claim that the terms and conditions contradicted the offer.
The refund offer was limited to ‘First/Last scorer, correct score & scorecast single bets’ according to the text.
Paddy Power said that it did not intend to mislead and that text would clarify rather the offer and the wording ‘We’ll refund losing bets’ implied that Paddy Power would refund some, not all, losing bets. It also said, that because the adverts were aired on sports related stations, the average listener would be aware of typical promotions made by betting companies and their terms and conditions.
The ASA said that while it was acceptable for on-screen text to clarify an offer, it should not contradict claims made within an ad.
The complaints were upheld, with the adverts not to be run again in their current form.
Barcelona beat Manchester United 3-1 in the end.