The United Kingdom Advertising Standards Authority has banned Wink Bingo’s national ad campaign in London. The media watchdog group believes the online gambling Web site’s ad promotes betting in the workplace, which is a breach in rules.
The Web site had set out to be "cheeky, irreverent, sassy and a bit naughty" with a Spacebar Media-created ad. Instead, the now-controversial ad that shows a nurse celebrating a bingo win while a woman gives birth in the background was interpreted by the group as a nurse ignoring work duties to gamble.
"We acknowledged that the intention of the ad was to portray a real-life situation in a humorous way, but considered that the ad nonetheless showed a healthcare professional ignoring a woman giving birth in order to play bingo online," the authority decreed in its ruling.