The UK Advertising Standards Authority is seeking to provide clarity with its new guidance related to protecting under-18s in gambling advertising, however, it leans more towards interpretation than any hard policy.
According to the new guidelines released by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP), marketers should consider that an influencer followed by over 100,000 social media accounts registered to people under-18 is “indicative of strong appeal”.
However, the new rules also clarify: “The [Advertising Standards Authority] may deem a personality of strong appeal even if they have fewer than a total of 100,000 follower accounts registered to under-18s across platforms.
“[However], in some cases, it may deem a personality not of strong appeal even if they have more than 100,000 under-18 registered follower accounts across platforms, depending on other factors relevant to their appeal to young people.”
As a result, advertisers will have to make a decision on a case-by-case basis, placing an extra focus on context rather than the number of followers on any one platform.
The new guidelines place a strengthened emphasis on nuance, citing the example of a footballer at a lower league or non-league club, which in itself is a low risk factor, but would then be deemed as high risk if they had a significant under-18 following on social media.
As well as the personalities used in the marketing, the new guidelines look to provide clarity on the remit for content that can be used.
A whole myriad of themes were singled out as being problematic when it comes to gambling marketing and potential minors, including telling advertisers to avoid ‘clothing styles that are obviously youth-oriented, music by younger artists or those popular with under-18s and youth culture themes “like having disregard for authority or social norms, or teenage rebelliousness”.
Interestingly, the ASA singled out sports stars from the world of cricket, tennis and rugby as generally being low risk when it comes to engaging the youth audience.
The update is the first since 2022, when CAP and BCAP introduced a stricter standard, replacing the previous test of “particular” appeal to under-18s with a test of “strong” appeal.
According to the ASA, the new guidelines have been formulated following a review of research, input from stakeholders and a series of rulings.
In the last year, the advertising regulator has been forced to take action against several operators due to their marketing campaigns being of possible strong appeal to those under the age of 18.
In June, the ASA upheld two complaints against Ladbrokes for its adverts that featured ‘Ladbucks’, the operator’s free-to-play games currency. The ASA deemed the ads could be of appeal to minors due to the similarities of ‘Ladbucks’ to the game currencies of ‘V-bucks’ from Fortnite and ‘Robux’ from Roblox.
More recently, Midnite was ordered to remove an AI-generated social media video depicting the Real Madrid star Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Despite arguing that the post was editorial, the ASA ruled that the post constituted advertising and, therefore, fell under the scope of the CAP code, which states that footballers playing at an elite level are likely to appeal strongly to children and young persons.
Per the requirements of holding a UK Gambling Commission licence, all operators must adhere to the codes set out by CAP and BCAP.
