Bingo ad banned for breaching standards
28th May, 2008
William Hill’s latest bingo advertisement has been banned by the ASA, as it was considered to be breaking current bettting advertising rules .
The TV campaign, considered to be humorous by William Hill, was not seen in the same light by the ASA and even drew seven official complaints to the authority. The advert portrays a woman in her thirties so desperate to play bingo that she is keeping it a secret from her husband and children.
The story starts off in the kitchen, where the viewer is introduced to the lady and her husband. The wife is shown to winding the clock forward to lead her husband into thinking that he is late for work. The agenda behind her actions is to gain some extra online bingo time obviously to play in William Hill's online bingo hall.
The first line you hear from the lady is "I get mine the minute he's out the door." She then rushes upstairs and logs on to the William Hill online bingo site.
A voiceover then pronounces: "William Hill Bingo ... a massive online community. When will you get your William Hill bingo thrill?"
The lady then decides that the best way to get more bingo action is to wind the clock backwards. She does so saying “Doesn’t time fly”.
The advertisement was said to demonstrate and excuse the unacceptable behaviour of the lady that was described as “socially irresponsible” and the one that could end up causing “financial, social and emotional harm”.
The viewers’ complaints were mainly based around the fact that the lady was deceiving her family in her little affair with online bingo. It was seen as depicting "someone who was addicted to gambling and was attempting to hide that from their family by deception".
In their defence, William Hill stated that the ad was nothing but humour-based and was showing "everyday scenario of a woman wanting to get on with her day once her husband had left the house, punctuated by taking a break to play bingo". William Hill said that “the woman's behaviour was light-hearted and did not portray, condone or encourage socially irresponsible behaviour or behaviour that could lead to financial, social or emotional harm".
Despite the statement, Advertising Standard Authority said that the advert was portraying a woman "desperate to play bingo and was either unable to wait any longer or wanted to keep that secret from her husband", referring particularly to the slogan "I get mine the minute he has left".
By Elena
