Lotto Ad banned for dig at Bingo

A National Lottery television advertisement has been banned from our screens following a protest lodged by the Bingo Association to the Advertising Standards Authority.

The advertisement for a National Lottery scratch card product showed an aging woman driving an electrically powered scooter past a deserted and closed down bingo hall where the gates have been padlocked to the woman's obvious annoyance. The picture is then 'rubbed out' in the way that scratch cards are rubbed to expose the results. The scene then alters to reveal the same woman travelling on a bespoke scooter, along a sunny beach after having made her fortune from a National Lottery scratch card.

The Bingo Association claimed that the ad unjustly belittled the game of bingo, arguing that the advertisement inferred that bingo halls were shutting down and that bingo was a failing industry.

Camelot who operates' the National Lottery argued that the ad only aimed to emphasise that scratch card winners could improve certain elements of their lives. Camelot went on to argue that the ad was set during the early morning when the vast majority of UK bingo halls were closed for business so it was entirely feasible that the woman had made the decision to buy a scratch card when the bingo hall wasn’t open.

The ASA maintained that it was not apparent from the advertisement what time of day it took place and that the image of the "aged & drab' bingo hall which appeared to be padlocked and chained gave viewers the notion that the bingo hall was "permanently closed", and went on to prohibit the ad from ever being aired on TV again.

16th July 2008