The UK’s advertising watchdog has found fault with Paddy Power’s Wesley Snipes references, while dismissing allegations of social irresponsibility against Bet365.
On Wednesday, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) released rulings on a number of complaints against gambling industry marketing efforts, although thankfully none of them as embarrassing as last week’s epic fail of affiliate advertorial.
The first case involved Paddy Power’s promo for last month’s Floyd Mayweather Jr. v. Conor McGregor boxing match. Two newspaper ads proclaimed the company’s decision to pay out early on Mayweather bets, using the tag “Always Bet on Black.”
The ads received nine complaints by readers upset over what they perceived as references to Mayweather’s race, and thus they believed the ad was capable of causing serious or widespread offence.