UK Online Bingo Advert Banned

A recent online bingo advert for a leading UK bingo group has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for racist connotations and stigmatisation. The advert depicts a white man in a suit and a black man in a floral shirt, both sitting around a campfire on a beach. The black man plays a ukulele and repeats in song everything that the white man says.

After a number of viewers complained about the advert, the ASA opted to remove it from broadcast, stating, “We considered that the ad could be interpreted as humiliating, stigmatising or undermining the standing of the black character and was therefore likely to cause serious offence.”

This is not the first bingo advert that has been banned on television. A few months ago, the ASA banned an advert depicting a single mother holding a baby, stating that her winnings enabled her to survive. The negative implications of this could be drastic, and as responsible gaming sets a high precedent for promoting games for the sake of entertainment rather than income, the ASA removed the offending advert, ruling that the advert “suggested gambling was a solution to financial worries and encouraged gambling behaviour that could lead to financial and emotional harm.” Despite a few negative adverts, there are still plenty more that highlight the positive side to bingo games, such as the always-entertaining Foxy Bingo adverts.