William Hill Bingo advert ruled irresponsible

This is the advert that has been banned by the ASA:-

Although all adverts are vetted by Clearcast the company had accepted William Hill's explanation of the advert that described it as "in a humorous tone" and denied that the advert showed someone who preferred to gamble alone. In response the ASA felt the advert characterized and excused gambling behaviour that could lead on to social, financial and even emotional harm and said that was "socially irresponsible".

Personally I can see where they are coming from but just found the whole set of adverts tedious and yawn inducing.

Last year saw the introduction of new advertising regulations to try and prevent an increase in problem gambling after online gambling sites became able to advertise on television for the first time following the 2005 Gambling Act.

These rules were later to become a little stricter with adverts not being able to be shown before the watershed if they portrayed gambling in such a way that it would imply it was a solution to solving financial problems, making a person more attractive to members of the opposite sex or that it may make someone more popular amongst their peers.

Back in February of this year the ASA reported that the new rules appeared to be working and only seven adverts, a mere 1% of the total, that were actually in breach of the new advertising code.

Prior to the William Hill advert the ASA has only actually formally investigated one other advert and that was the Ladbrokes advert featuring Ian Wright and a couple of other ex-footballers. This investigation took place after a viewer complaint was received but the ASA cleared Ladbrokes of breaching its advertising code.