Ladbrokes has been ordered by the ASA to stop displaying ads that attract minors after tweets surfaced of Premier League directors, including Eddie Howe (pictured). [Image: Shutterstock.com]
The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned two ads featuring English Premier League (EPL) managers.
Ladbrokes had been running a marketing campaign that featured high-profile coaches such as Eddie Howe from Newcastle United and David Moyes from West Ham. Two tweets in particular caught the attention of the ASA. One of them was promoting a betting market on who will be the next EPL manager to lose his job.
It is likely to have a strong appeal to those under the age of 18.
The ASA believes that the directors’ images are “likely to be highly attractive to those under 18”, although the regulator noted that the ads were aimed at people over 25. One of the primary issues is that Twitter does not have a robust age verification system, so Ladbrokes cannot properly exclude minors from seeing these messages.
The ASA ruled the ads could not reappear, calling them “irresponsible”. Ladbrokes tried to defend one of the tweets in question by saying it did not in fact direct people to the online sportswriters. The operator also confirmed that only people who have been accepted by Twitter at least 18 years old can see the tweet. However, Ladbrokes conceded the failure in the second tweet.
