A single complaint lodged with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has led to a significant ruling concerning a Buzz Bingo advertisement that surfaced on Facebook in October 2023.
The advertisement, hosted on Buzz Bingo’s official Facebook page, featured animated elements, including a full moon, pumpkin heads, a church with witch’s hat-like roofs, flying bats, a spider in a web, and a graveyard with a tombstone and cross.
Accompanying this imagery was text styled to resemble slime, announcing “Monster Mondays – £50,000 must be won every Monday in October.”
The complaint, however, alleged that the cartoonish Halloween visuals within the ad were likely to entice children, prompting questions about its compliance with advertising regulations.
Buzz Bingo responded to the complaint by asserting that the ad was specifically posted on their Facebook page, which is limited to users aged 18 and older.
Furthermore, they contended that the campaign targeted individuals over the age of 25 with an interest in bingo.
According to Buzz Bingo, these precautions were in place to prevent children and young people from encountering the ad.
Nevertheless, they acknowledged concerns that the Halloween imagery could inadvertently appeal to children.
Consequently, the company promptly removed the advertisement and implemented changes to its internal marketing approval processes.
In its ruling, the ASA upheld the complaint and cited the CAP Code, which stipulates that advertisements must not possess a strong appeal to children or young individuals.
The ASA also highlighted that the use of animated content could contribute to the perception that the material was intended for audiences under 18, emphasizing the need to avoid child-like background imagery.
The ASA found that Halloween and its associated traditions were inherently appealing to children, and the ad’s cartoonish imagery and the term “monster” could easily captivate young audiences.
Consequently, they concluded that the ad indeed had strong appeal to children.
The ASA suggested that it might have been acceptable for the advertisement to appear in a medium where under-18s could be excluded from the audience, provided that robust age verification processes were in place.
However, since Facebook relies on self-verification during customer sign-up and lacks stringent age-verification measures, the ASA deemed that Buzz Bingo had not adequately excluded under-18s from the audience when strong appeal to this demographic was involved.
While recognizing the steps taken by Buzz Bingo in response to the complaint, the ASA ultimately deemed the ad irresponsible and in violation of CAP Code rules 16.1 and 16.3.12.
Consequently, Buzz Bingo was instructed to ensure that the advertisement did not reappear in its current form.
Additionally, the ASA advised the operator to refrain from incorporating themes or imagery likely to strongly appeal to individuals under 18 in future advertisements.