The United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority has allowed a television ad promoting St. Minver Ltd.’s Littlewoods bingo to continue airing after a complaint called the ad “misleading.”
According to a statement from the authority, a viewer challenged whether the ad was misleading and could encourage irresponsible gambling behavior because it implied large sums of money could be won on multiple occasions.
The authority ruled that it was not misleading.
The ad in question showed two women in front of computer screens chatting via a Littlewoods bingo chat room and displayed the following chat text: “Leanne: What did you just win??? Kate: £500 ... again X.”
Clearcast, a United Kingdom company responsible for the pre-transmission examination and clearance of television advertisements, responded saying that it did not find the ad misleading. Instead, it said St. Minver had supported the claims made for the number and amount of the payouts, according to the authority. It found the aim of the ad to be setting out how much could be won each day.
According to a statement from the authority, it found that even though St. Minver did not submit evidence that showed £500 could be won twice in a row, it considered that viewers would understand the scenario did not reflect a typical user’s experience and did not encourage irresponsible gambling.