Ladbrokes ad campaign pulls in almost 100 complaints for pushing irresponsible gambling
Ladbrokes has come under fire from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after 98 people complained its Ladbrokes Life campaign condoned an irresponsible attitude towards gambling.
The majority of the complaints said the Ladbrokes campaign, which spanned TV, social, out of home and online, suggested peer pressure to gamble and that gambling could enhance personal qualities.
Ladbrokes said the campaign was centred on a group of five ordinary male friends who were normal, ordinary-looking men engaged in “commonplace leisure activities” and were not cool or glamorous.
The betting company denied that the ad campaign showed the men behaving in an irresponsible way and said that it only showed betting as one small part of the characters' lives.
Ladbrokes added that it felt there was a clear disconnect between the "heroic" style of the voiceover and the normal, everyday lifestyle of the men portrayed in the ads.
YouTube and JCDecaux said that they had not received any complaints regarding the ads.
In its ruling the ASA said that although the TV and online adverts were not in breach of the code, two posters that featured the text “When you win its skill, when you lose it’s bad luck" and “Once is luck, twice is talent” condoned an irresponsible attitude towards gambling and were banned from appearing in their current form.
The comes after Ladbrokes yesterday signed up to voluntary guidelines designed to prevent the government from imposing tougher laws on digital gambling machines and the ads which accompany them.