This article was produced by Olswang LLP, which joined with CMS on 1 May 2017.
The following is an update on the ASA's ruling on a promotional tweet produced by Coral Interactive (Gibraltar) Limited.
The Advertisement:
Coral sent a promotional tweet from the Coral Twitter account, dated 26 April 2016. The message read; "The easiest £40 you'll make this week! Stake £5 on 5/4 Real Madrid to beat Man City and get paid out at 8/1". Below this message there was an image of a woman holding a sign reading: "New Customer Offer MAN CITY V REAL MADRID REAL MADRID TO WIN 8/1". Attached to this sign was a flag which stated "WINNINGS PAID IN FREE BETS".
The advert received complaints and was challenged on two points:
- The advertisement was misleading to consumers by implying that the bet was ‘risk-free’; and
- The advertisement did not make it sufficiently clear that winnings would be paid in free bets.
The ASA's assessment on point 1 (not upheld):
The ASA did not uphold the first complaint (that the advert was misleading in implying that the bet was risk-free), because in the text underneath the claim ("The easiest £40 you'll make this week!") it made clear that the offer related to the Real Madrid v Man City match. Whilst the ad implied that Real Madrid would win, the ASA took the view that consumers would be unlikely to believe the bet was risk free as the result of the match relied on performance ‘on the day’ and was therefore not a foregone conclusion and could not be construed as being ‘risk free’.
This advertisement was not found to be in breach of the CAP Code.
The ASA's assessment 2 (upheld):
The ASA upheld the second complaint that Coral did not make it sufficiently clear that the enhanced winnings would be paid out in the form of free bets as they believed that the consumer, upon seeing the advert in its current form, could believe that they would be eligible for winning £40 to be paid out in cash.
Whilst the ASA acknowledged the qualifying wording on the flag, the ASA stated that the text "WINNINGS PAID IN FREE BETS" was too small relative to the text in the body of the tweet and therefore not sufficiently prominent enough to counter the immediate impression that if the consumer wagered £5 and Real Madrid won, he/she would win £40 payable in cash.
The advertisement was found to be in breach of CAP Code 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.9 and 3.10 (Qualification).
Going forward:
The ruling illustrates the importance of ensuring the size and prominence of qualifying wording is sufficient to ensure the ad is not misleading. The ASA in this case upheld the complaint that consumers would be misled even though wording informing the consumer that the winnings would be paid out in free bets was present in the advertisement itself.
The ruling serves as a reminder to promoters that they should not bury significant conditions in small print as the ASA may treat the advertisement as if the conditions had not been included at all.
