ASA Bans Advert

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned a William Hill bingo advertisement from being broadcast on television again due to its portrayal of a woman hiding her addictive gambling habit from her family.

The advertisement shows a married couple in their kitchen at 7:15 in the morning. The woman seems keen for her husband to leave the house and asks him if he’s finished his breakfast. “Nearly,” he replies. The women then changes the kitchen clock from 7:15 to 7:30 and addresses the camera, saying, “I get mine the minute he's out the door.” Thinking it’s later than it really is, the husband dashes out to work, and the woman immediately logs on to start playing bingo.

According to the ASA, three viewers complained after the commercial was first aired because, “they believed it depicted someone who was addicted to gambling and was attempting to hide that from their family by deception.”

William Hill responded that the advertisement took, “a humorous look at the everyday scenario of a woman wanting to get on with her day once her husband had left the house, punctuated by taking a break to play bingo.” They also said that showing the woman looking forward to playing bingo did not constitute a depiction of someone who was addicted to gambling or someone who should have been addressing priorities elsewhere.

The Advertising Standards Authority upheld the viewer’s complaints, saying that: “the woman moving the clock forward by 15 minutes, in conjunction with the comment ‘I get mine the minute he has left’ after her husband had left the house,  implied the woman was desperate to play bingo and was either unable to wait any longer or wanted to keep that secret from her husband.” They also said that, “the fact the woman was still in her pyjamas implied she had to play urgently, rather than play during a break in her day as WH had suggested.”

28th May 2008