Buzz Bingo in hot water with ASA over Halloween-themed Facebook ad
Watchdog deemed advert run on Meta-owned platform to be “irresponsible” as the cartoon imagery was likely to have appealed to children
Buzz Group, which operates Buzz Bingo, has been reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for running a Halloween-themed Facebook ad as it was “likely to be of strong appeal to children”, the watchdog has ruled.
In the decision published today, 3 January, following a complaint, the ASA laid out how the ad, which was seen on Facebook on 20 October 2023, contained cartoon imagery including an animated footage of a large full moon above a scene featuring “smiling, carved pumpkins”.
There were also witches’ hats, airborne bats, a spider in a web and a graveyard with a tombstone and a cross, all of which was “reminiscent of children’s cartoons and story books”.
There was also text that looked like slime that read: “Monster Mondays – £50,000 must be won every Monday in October.” The ad also included Buzz Bingo logos as well as “18+ – BeGambleAware.org” at the bottom of the screen.
The complaint suggested the cartoon Halloween imagery would likely appeal to children and challenged whether the ad had breached the UK’s CAP Code.
In response to the complaint, the operator said that the ad was featured on its social media page, which was restricted to Facebook users over the age of 18.
Buzz also said the ad was used as part of a focused campaign specifically aimed at users over the age of 25 who were interested in bingo.
Buzz said it believed it had taken the necessary precautions to prevent children and young people from seeing the ad.
However, the operator acknowledged that the imagery used could appeal to children and that, moving forward, it would be making changes to its internal marketing approval procedures.
The CAP guidance for operators states that animated content and graphics could give the impression of an ad designed to appeal to children.
As well as the imagery, the ASA ruled that terminology used, such as “monster”, would also have strong appeal to children.
The ASA said that users self-verified on Facebook and that there is no robust age verification on sign up.
However, the body added: “We considered Buzz Bingo had not excluded under-18s from the audience with the highest level of accuracy required for ads where their content was likely to appeal strongly to under-18s.”
The ASA acknowledged the steps Buzz Bingo had taken in response to the complaint, but for the aforementioned reasons, it concluded that the ad was “irresponsible” and breached the CAP Code.
As a result, the ad must not appear in its current form again. The watchdog also told the operator not to include themes of imagery that would appeal to under-18s in the future.
In a statement issued to EGR, a Buzz Bingo spokesman said: “Our Halloween social media post on Facebook was restricted to those over 18 years old, and furthermore the same content was very specifically targeted to those over 25 years old when used as an advert on the same platform.
“This is in line with guidance from both the CAP and the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling Code (IGRG) which we strictly adhere to.
“On reflection we acknowledge that some elements of the Halloween artwork could have been construed as trying to appeal to children despite that never being the intention and with appropriate targeting safeguards in place.
“As soon as we were made aware of the complaint, we withdrew the ad and have tightened our processes as a result,” the spokesperson concluded.