The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has announced that it is enforcing ‘tougher’ new rules on gambling advertisers to protect young and other vulnerable people from ‘gambling advertising-related harms’.
While prior restrictions required that ads must not be of ‘particular appeal’ to under-18s, new rules prohibit content – imagery, themes and characters – that has a ‘significant levels’ of appeal to minors, regardless of how it is viewed by adults.
The advertising watchgdog’s intention is to significantly restrict the imagery and references that gambling ads will be allowed to use. Freely accessible ads will not be able to use reality stars, footballers and sportspeople with a ‘considerable following’ among under-18 on social media. References to video game content popular with young people will also not be allowed.
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“Marketers now need to ensure their campaigns comply,” the ad authority added.
“Ideally, they should adapt their compliance processes to assess all the pieces of content included in their creatives (a character, personality, graphic etc.) under the new standard. Ultimately, in the event of a complaint or proactive monitoring work, they must satisfy the ASA that there are no indicators of content being of significant interest or popularity among under-18s.”
The news comes months after the UK Gambling Commission set out new rules to ensure that online gambling brands take more action to protect and identify customers at risk of harm.
