ASA Enforces with Force

11/03/2008		ASA Enforces with Force
Home History Games News Dictionary		When the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) said that they’d be strict to their standards of appropriate and inappropriate promotion of online gambling companies in the UK, some say they underestimated themselves. One of those people is William Bentley. “I don't know what the ASA is trying to accomplish, but they are banning perfectly good ads. All these companies are trying to do is promote their business, and the ASA is taking their job a little too serious.” Bentley’s comments come on the tail end of the ASA enforcing their standards on PokerStar.com and then Partouche Betting. The first featured the idea that betting online could make a person seem more confident, more daring. Evidently, the ad was originally designed to be tongue-in-cheek, but the ASA was taking no chances and ordered it down. The second was an ad for Partouche, and was also meant to be “light-hearted.” It was based on a satire of England’s 2008 Euro Cup finish, which was less than admirable. The ad came off with the impression that gambling online could be a means by which you could forget personal problems, by using the pastime of online casinos to distract you from daily life. The ASA didn’t like it, apparently they did not want to encourage gambling on someone with problems any more than you could encourage drinking. The ad featured Eric Cantona. Bentley, of course, disagreed with the ruling. “The truth is that gambling is an escape from personal problems. When I want to get away from the house or my job, I gamble. I do it for fun, but it certainly is an escape much like exercising or going to watch a movie.” However, it’s not up to William Bentley. Advertising departments for online casinos will have to find either more creative, or more bland ways to get their names out there, or risk being pulled right back down.

11/03/2008

ASA Enforces with Force

When the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) said that they’d be strict to their standards of appropriate and inappropriate promotion of online gambling companies in the UK, some say they underestimated themselves.

One of those people is William Bentley. “I don't know what the ASA is trying to accomplish, but they are banning perfectly good ads. All these companies are trying to do is promote their business, and the ASA is taking their job a little too serious.” Bentley’s comments come on the tail end of the ASA enforcing their standards on PokerStar.com and then Partouche Betting. The first featured the idea that betting online could make a person seem more confident, more daring. Evidently, the ad was originally designed to be tongue-in-cheek, but the ASA was taking no chances and ordered it down.

The second was an ad for Partouche, and was also meant to be “light-hearted.” It was based on a satire of England’s 2008 Euro Cup finish, which was less than admirable. The ad came off with the impression that gambling online could be a means by which you could forget personal problems, by using the pastime of online casinos to distract you from daily life. The ASA didn’t like it, apparently they did not want to encourage gambling on someone with problems any more than you could encourage drinking. The ad featured Eric Cantona.

Bentley, of course, disagreed with the ruling. “The truth is that gambling is an escape from personal problems. When I want to get away from the house or my job, I gamble. I do it for fun, but it certainly is an escape much like exercising or going to watch a movie.” However, it’s not up to William Bentley. Advertising departments for online casinos will have to find either more creative, or more bland ways to get their names out there, or risk being pulled right back down.