Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.
The Gambling Act 2005 came fully into effect on 1 September 2007. All gambling ads must comply with the Code and the law. Under section 16 of the CAP Code, marketers should not exploit the young or vulnerable nor imply gambling can solve financial or personal problems or is indispensable, a rite of passage or linked with sexual success. The Gambling Act does not apply outside Great Britain. Specialist legal advice should be sought when considering advertising any gambling products in Northern Ireland or the Channel Islands.
In general, the CAP Code requires marketing communications for gambling products to be socially responsible, with particular regard to the need to protect children, young persons and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited. For the purposes of this section, “children” are people of 15 and under and “young persons” are people of 16 or 17.
One way in which the Code seeks to protect children and young persons is to prevent betting or gaming ads appealing particularly to them. Rule 16.3.2 states that marcoms should not exploit the susceptibilities, aspirations, credulity, inexperience or lack of knowledge of children, young persons or other vulnerable persons. And 16.3.12 states that marcoms should not be likely to be of particular appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture.
The ASA considered a complaint about an internet banner ad, for a gambling website, that showed a cartoon image of Spiderman. The advertiser argued that the ad was not meant to appeal to young people and the website on which the ad had appeared had an average reader age of 41 years. The ASA acknowledged that Spiderman appealed to some adults but decided that the cartoon depiction of the popular comic book character was likely to have particular appeal to children and young people, regardless of the context (or the readers’ average age) in which it appeared. The ASA concluded that the ad breached the Code (Littlewoods Gaming, 2 July 2008).
Marketers should be mindful that the use of cartoons, licensed characters such as super heroes and celebrities popular with children must be used with a due sense of responsibility. In other words, advertisers should take care when using cartoon-like images; they might be acceptable if they are adult in nature but marketers run the risk of appealing to the under-18s if cartoon images are too childish in their execution; and that might be a problem when advertising gambling products.
Last modified : 02 August 2010