UK LEGAL COMMENT hobbitfoot/Adobe Stock
Important changes T
he delayed Gambling Act review has long been expected to tighten restrictions on advertising gambling in the UK, but in the meantime Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has taken its own action to bring in stronger rules. Most
recently, a change to the CAP and BCAP codes means that adverts for gambling must not have “strong appeal” to children, in addition a ruling against Coral heralds a stricter approach to when adverts will be deemed “socially irresponsible”.
“Strong appeal”
An amendment to provision 16.3.12 of the CAP Code and 17.4.5 of the BCAP Code came into force on 1 October 2022, altering the wording of the rule that gambling adverts must not be of “particular” appeal to under-18s to “strong” appeal. The effect of this change is clarified in a revised version of the ASA’s Advertising Guidance ‘Gambling and lotteries advertising: protecting under-18s’.
30 OCTOBER 2022
Northridge Law’s Melanie Ellis looks at key changes in Advertising Standards Authority rules for the UK
The first point to note about the change is that the
question of whether an advert appeals to under-18s is now unrelated to its appeal to adults. Under the “particular” appeal wording, the ASA’s guidance explained that the test was whether an advert’s content appealed more to children than it did to adults. Under the new “strong” appeal wording, if an advert appeals strongly to children it breaches the rule, regardless of how much it appeals to adults. The ASA’s expectation is that operators and marketers will satisfy themselves that an advert will not strongly appeal to under-18s before publishing it. A list of high to low risk approaches is provided in the guidance, which particularly relate to the character and personalities used in adverts. The implication is that the higher the likely risk, the more detailed evidence will be required to demonstrate that the advert will not strongly appeal to under-18s. High risk adverts include those involving children’s TV presenters, UK footballers playing for top clubs or the national team, other prominent sports people and anyone with a significant
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