ASA scolds William Hill for "child friendly" social media ads
Hills' Twitter ads were judged to appeal to children, while Betway is rebuked for "misleading" free bet offer
William Hill was reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) today over the use of images including a young child playing golf and teddy bears on its Twitter feed, which the watchdog ruled were likely to appeal to children.
The UK operator’s banned adverts were hosted on its @WillHillBet Twitter feed and included three separate images which featured children and teddy bears with the ASA ruling the images were irresponsible and in breach of its advertising guidelines
The first of three images was tweeted during The Masters golf tournament and featured a child holding a golf club and ball, which breached the ASA’s ban on marketing communication for gambling products featuring children.
The second and third images featured teddy bears with the hashtag #BOYorGIRL and were timed to coincide with the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s second child.
The ASA ruled that all ads must not appear again in their current form and in response William Hill said it had now undertaken procedures to ensure the issues were not repeated.
In another ruling this week, the ASA also banned a free bet advert featured on Betway’s homepage which was judged to have been “misleading” to customers.
The £50 free bet offer linked to a “Bonus Terms” tab at the bottom of the betway.com site, however, the complainant argued the terms were not clearly displayed, an assessment the ASA upheld after judging the terms to be so crucial that they should appear alongside the offer.
The operator acknowledged the complaint but did not provide the ASA with any detailed response.