Online betting firm Betway breached gambling advertising regulations after using England and West Ham midfielder Declan Rice in a YouTube ad as he is under 25.
The Advertising Standards Agency ruled the firm that sponsors West Ham broke advertising rules by using the 20 year old in their promotion.
West Ham star Declan Rice starred in the YouTube Betway ad but the ASA ruled it broke advertising rulesCredit: Reuters
Betway were reported to the ASA by a member of the public.
The firm tried to convince the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that the video, showing a clamping prank on the footballer, wasn’t an ad and the rules didn’t apply.
But the bookie was told the clip was an advert, and therefore in breach of the non-broadcast advertising rules – known as the CAP Code – and was ordered to take it offline.
The video showed the footballer reacting to having his car clamped by characters wearing West Ham shirts emblazoned with the Betway logo. Declan Rice changed into a plain white T-shirt part way through the prank.
It ended with the statement on screen “HEED YOUR HUNCH” in green before the Betway logo appeared again followed by “bet the responsible way. 18+ begambleaware.org”
An ASA spokesperson said: “The YouTube video appeared on the Betway YouTube channel and featured sportsmen who consumers would be able to place bets on in the future and wearing football shirts with a prominent Betway logo.”
‘HEED YOUR HUNCH’
“The firm said it was a prank video of Declan Rice, a football player for West Ham, getting his car clamped by an actor purporting to be a traffic warden.”
“Betway said that the video did not feature a player in a sporting context, did not refer to a specific market, odds or promotions and that there was no link to the Betway website where a bet could be placed.”
“Betway therefore considered the ad was editorial content rather than an ad.”
“The ad ended with the brand name “Betway” followed by the claim “bet the responsible way. 18+ begambleaware.org “We therefore considered that the video was promoting the Betway brand. The ad also featured the claim “HEED YOUR HUNCH”, which we considered encouraged consumers to think about placing a bet.”
“For those reasons we considered the YouTube video was directly connected with the supply of Betway’s services and was therefore within the remit of the CAP Code.”
“The CAP Code stated that no one who is, or seemed to be, under 25 years old may be featured playing a significant role in marketing communications except for a specific exemption for marketing communications that included a transactional facility.”
“The YouTube video featured Declan Rice for the duration of the five-minute video, and we accordingly considered that he had played a significant role in the video. We also understood that Declan Rice was 20 years old.”
They continued: “Because Declan Rice was under the age of 25, and played a significant role in the ad, we concluded that the ad breached the Code.”
“The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Betway Ltd to remove the ad and ensure that they did not feature individuals who were under the age of 25 playing a significant role in marketing communications on social media.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
