An advert for a US lottery has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after a compliant from a viewer was upheld by the regulator.
What happened?
The complainant observed that the advert gave the impression that the offer was to participate in the US lottery, when it was, in fact, allowing customers to bet on the lottery’s outcome.The advert, which was distributed by LottoGo had appeared widely in the UK, with some major media publications even reported the opportunity to win a £256 million “Superjackpot”.The ASA explained their reasons for upholding the complaint in a statement, saying:“Because consumers were unlikely to understand from the ad as a whole that they were being offered the opportunity to bet on the outcome of a lottery via a gambling operator, rather than participate in the lottery itself, we concluded that the ad was misleading.“We told LottoGo.com to make clear, as soon as prize funds were quoted, the extent to which winnings may be subjected to deductions.“Furthermore, they must make clear that consumers were not being offered the opportunity to participate in a lottery, but to bet on its outcome.”
Second in quick succession
This ban comes on the heels of another advert that fell foul of the ASA, his time from Rieves.co.uk.The advert featured scratchcards with cartoon-like imagery that was considered to be particularly appealing to the young, with the ASA explaining:“We considered that the bright, colourful designs in the ads and cartoon-like imagery were likely to appeal to children.”There has been a heavy increase in adverts the ASA has banned, with the number raising by nearly 50% last year, with a strong percentage of the banned adverts involving gambling in some way, showing the recent attention being given to the dangers of gambling advertising.