The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against a website which promotes charity scratchards on the grounds the imagery might be intended to “appeal to children”.
The ASA upheld the complaint against Rieves Lotteries Ltd in a ruling last week. The ASA found that five of the organisation’s charity scratchcards contravened the CAP Code ensuring that gambling ads “must not be likely to be of particular appeal to children or young persons”.
Last week’s ruling stems from a public complaint originally received by the advertising watchdog on 2 June 2018.
Rieves’ website had been promoting the scratchcards called: “Queen Bee”, “Christmas Kisses”, “Snow Dough”, “Piggy Payout” and “Lucky Shamrock” – each featuring “cartoon-like” imagery to represent them including snowmen, a fairy and a picture of a bee wearing a crown.
Rieves, which lists its charitable partners on its website as Breast Cancer Now, the British Royal Legion and Sue Ryder, claimed that it wasn’t advertising said scratchcards on its website, as they could only be purchased from shops not online. It also said it was “not in its interest to target the young or vulnerable”.
However, the ASA have ruled that the “bright, colourful designs in the ads and cartoon-like imagery were likely to appeal to children” – in particular, in noted, the ad for the bee as it was “depicted in a cute manner that was likely to appeal to children” and featured other “icons associated with fairy tales”.
The ASA has barred Rieves Lotteries Ltd from running the ads again in their current form. It has also told the organisation to ensure their ads and products do not “have particular appeal to under-18s”.
Rieves did not respond to an invitation to comment.
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