The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has banned the latest advert from bookmaking giant William Hill in its current form as the ASA said equated gambling to seduction.
The offending advert panned down past a model’s chest toward a roulette wheel with a ball spinning, before showing a large amount of gambling chips being pushed toward the viewer.
During this spectacle a voiceover intonated: ‘Experience a live casino like no other’.
William Hill in their defence said that they had made no claims or connotations that gambling increased a consumer’s sexual success or enhanced their attractiveness and made no link between gambling and seductiveness.
They further added that the ad was shown only after the 9pm watershed.
In their judgement the ASA said: “… we noted the ad began with a close-up of a woman’s eyes looking up from a gambling table and directly into the camera lens, which panned out from the woman’s face while maintaining focus on her eyes.
We considered the focus on her eyes was used to engage the viewer which could be interpreted as a signal of attraction. We also considered that as the camera panned down over the female croupier’s décolletage, this enhanced the sense of seduction, which was further reinforced by the uniforms worn by all of the female croupiers.
Because the ad opened with an engaging shot of the croupier’s eyes, showed sensual areas of the women’s body and because of the style of outfit worn, we concluded the ad linked gambling to seduction, which was a breach of the Code.”
What do you think of the advert? See below:
Source: gaming-awards.com
