Who: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA); Jumpman Gaming Ltd t/a Lights Camera Bingo (Jumpman Gaming)
Where: United Kingdom
When: 13 March 2024
Law stated as at: 15 April 2024
What happened:
The ASA ruled in favour of Jumpman Gaming whose advert featuring a dancing cow was subject to a complaint that considered the content was likely to be of strong appeal to under 18s. Since 1 October 2022, persons or characters whose example is likely to be followed or who have a strong appeal to under 18s cannot be included in marketing communications for gambling.
The TV advert for Lucky Cow Bingo aired on 14 December 2023 and displayed a cow dancing to music on its back legs against a bright purple background, with a voiceover that read “Someone’s happy. Get that lucky cow feeling with luckycowbingo.com. The home of brilliant bingo, super slots and beautiful bonuses like this…Get that lucky cow feeling with up to 500 free spins at luckycowbingo.com.”
The Committee of Advertising Practice guidance on “Gambling and lotteries advertising: protecting under-18s” provides that advertiser-created characters that are colourful or have exaggerated features are more likely to be of strong appeal to under 18s, particularly if they resemble children’s characters and are cute or cuddly.
Jumpman Gaming responded to the complaint against its advert by arguing that the dancing cow did not appeal to under 18s as it was not cute, cuddly or cartoon-like and, although the cow was animated, it was not like any animations or toys that might be known to children. The same approach was taken with the music, which Jumpman Gaming held would not have had a strong appeal to children as it does not have attention-grabbing lyrics and is not a genre appealing to younger people.
Clearcast, the broadcaster-controlled UK organisation that approves adverts, followed Jumpman Gaming’s line of analysis, stating that there would be no strong appeal to under 18s as the cow animation was photorealistic and not cartoon-like. Rather, the way the cow moved was more similar to GIFs, which are considered to appeal to an adult audience as they are an older animation style and nostalgic.
The ASA decided not to uphold the complaint as they agreed with the analysis that the cow was lifelike in its depiction and not cute or cartoon-like. As a result, while they acknowledged that the bright colours and the dancing cow in the advert may appeal to some children or young people, on the whole, the advert was not likely to have a strong appeal to under 18s.
Why this matters:
This is the latest in a line of decisions on whether characters are likely to strongly appeal to under 18s and is important for advertisers by demonstrating the nuanced approach. In particular, the decision confirms that if animated animals are to be included in adverts, they should be life-like, not have exaggerated features, not be cute or cartoon-like, not overly colourful and not resemble a soft toy or character from children stories.
