Tough new gambling advertisement rules come into place.

Jack Rogers

On October 1st 2022 the tough new gambling advertising rules brought in to protect young and other vulnerable people came into force.

The new rules prohibit content that has a significant level of appeal to under-18s, regardless of how it is viewed by adults. A change from a “particular appeal” to “strong appeal” will restrict the use of imagery and references that gambling ads will be allowed to use. This will result in brands having to decrease the potential for gambling ads to attract the attention of under-18s. For example, ads won’t be able to use:

  • Topflight footballers and footballers with a considerable following among under-18 on social media.
  • All sportspeople well-known to under-18s, including sportspeople with a considerable volume of under-18 followers on social media.
  • References to video game content and gameplay popular with under-18s.
  • Stars from reality shows popular with under-18s, such as Love Island.

Brands and marketers alike will need to ensure that their campaigns comply, they should adapt their compliance processes to ensure that all pieces of content included in their content are assessed under the new standard. If the ASA ends up having to investigate a breach of the new rules, the brand or marketer must satisfy the ASA that there are no indicators of content being of significant interest or popularity among under-18s.

The ASA previously stated that brands must ‘satisfy themselves to a high degree of confidence’ and must be able to provide a detailed assessment as to why the brand considered the advert to not appeal strongly to under-18s.

The Committee of Advertising Practice also published guidance to be read alongside the new rules and included a checklist which provides a short overview of the steps that marketers should take to lessen the possibility of their gambling or lottery advertisement appealing ‘strongly’ to under-18s.

We have helped some of the worlds favourite brands run responsible and compliant promotions, including ones for clothing products. For help and advice on running safe and successful promotions contact us here or email info@promoveritas.com.