Ad shows man “lying” about gambling
Aussie gaming operator Tabcorp may have crossed a line in a TV ad that depicts a group of men on a camping trip who cannot take their eyes off a mobile racing app.
The ad, which featured the Bon Jovi song “Always,” also showed one of the men returning home to tell his girlfriend that he and his buddies had spent the time fishing.
The country’s Advertising Standards Board ordered the ad pulled from the air, saying it depicts excessive gambling.
The commercial first appeared in early October. In early November, the ASB ruled that the spot had breached part of the Australian Association of National Advertisers’ Wagering Advertising and Marketing Communications Code, which says gambling ads “must not portray, condone or encourage excessive participation in wagering activities.”
“The ad implied that it would be ‘fun’ and “sociable” to lie to your partner about gambling addiction,” according to a complaint cited by CalvinAyre.com. “It glamorizes gambling as a kind of pleasure that one could indulge in over a weekend but come home unsuspected.
“If someone had just such a need to get online for a whole weekend (as is implied by the ad), and then conceal that from their partner (as is implied by the ad), they would be suffering a serious gambling addiction,” the complaint huffed.
Tabcorp replied that the ad was “not a depiction of a problem gambler concealing his gambling from his family,” and insisted that it did not “glamorize” gambling.
