Sky Vegas has recently had a Television advert banned in the United Kingdom. This happened after it was deemed that the main character in the advert, a Roulette Rock star, was glamourizing gambling and this is against the rules.
Sky Vegas Advert Causes Controversy
Sky Vegas forms part of a group of companies that also includes Sky Bet and Sky Poker. The group is partially owned by Rupert Murdoch’s pay-TV group, who owns a minority stake in the group. The new advert from Sky Vegas featured a character named Michael, who is depicted as an everyman type of character. That is, until he gambles, when he becomes a betting legend.
The voice over for the advert begins by telling the viewer’s how he was doing his recycling in the morning, but now that he is in Sky Vegas, he is a Roulette rock star “riding an electric riff of red and black.”
The Advertising Standards Authority, or ASA, quickly stepped in and banned the commercial after it received a complaint from a viewer saying the advert glamorized gambling.
Sky Vegas defends its position
Sky Vegas soon came out and said this had not been its intention. Sky Vegas has said the advert in no way suggests that Michaels abilities were enhanced in anyway due to his gambling. Michael remained the exact same person and only felt like a rock star because of the excitement of playing at Sky Vegas.
Despite what Sky Vegas said, the ASA still disagrees and is upholding the ban on the commercial. The ASA has come out and said at the beginning of the advert, Michael is an everyman character taking out his recycling, but once he starts gambling he exudes confidence and takes on personality traits of a rock star. The ASA believes that this demonstrated a distinct change in Michael’s personality, attributed to gambling. Thus, it concluded that the advert was suggesting that gambling had the potential to enhance a person’s qualities.
