William Hill cut from #ItsComingHome hashtag on Twitter amid concerns ads reach kids
Twitter has detached bookmaker William Hill's branding from the #ItsComingHome hashtag following England's victory over Sweden amid concerns the social network is delivering gambling ads to children.
William Hill buy's up #ItsComingHome hashtag
William Hill had sponsored the hashtag since the start of the tournament, but its usage has greatly increased due to England's progression into the semi finals with thousands of memes referencing the hit song appearing on the social network.
With its attachment to the hashtag, which looks to have been used tens of thousands of times, William Hill was at risk of reaching children – with Twitter policy allowing users over the age of 13 to have accounts.
As the picture above demonstrates, the hashtag has also been widely shared by some leading UK brands, including the Beano magazine, which would be expected to carry a young audience.
Advertising execs leaned on the social network to decouple the bookmaker from the hashtag.
They said Twitter had obliged with their demands to remove the branding.
Good god @Twitter REMOVE this shitty gambling brand from this hashtag. It does not belong to them. https://t.co/BlcRN3w2Bl — Louise "Elbows" Jack (@xloubellxx) 7 July 2018
It’s a bad thing, and it shouldn’t have happened. I stand by everything I said, and I’m very glad if I played a part in getting rid of the fucking shithouse thing.
— Dan (@creature_dan) July 7, 2018
The social media platform would not offer comment on the incident.
William Hill, head of social Richard Bloch, said: “We began a Twitter campaign at the start of the World Cup which kicked off in early June. The hashtags we chose were purposefully selected to run alongside our World Cup marketing campaigns and were aimed at our core demographic.
“With England progressing to the semi-finals the William Hill branded emoji that accompanied the #itscominghome has now been switched to an unbranded St George’s cross - let’s hope they can bring back the World Cup.”
