ASA bans radio ad offer from Paddy Power
Flutter-owned operator’s ad was found to be misleading to potential customers following a complaint to the advertising watchdog
A radio commercial by Paddy Power has been found to be misleading due to the speed and volume with which the terms and conditions were read out at the end.
The advert, which first aired on 12 December 2021, featured a conversation about football at Christmas and related to Paddy Power’s bet builder offer of money back as a free bet if one leg of the bet builder was unsuccessful.
The conditions indicated it was for pre-match online bets made up of a minimum of four legs. All legs of the Bet Builder required minimum odds of 1/5 and excluded enhanced pre-match odds. It also referenced that the maximum free bet that a customer was eligible to was £10.
The complaint asserted that the terms and conditions at the end of the advert were spoken too quickly and at low volume resulting in them being unintelligible and, therefore, the ad could be construed as misleading.
In response, Paddy Power said it had included all relevant terms and conditions and made sure they didn’t contradict anything mentioned in the ad.
In addition, the bookmaker said that the terms and conditions had not been sped up and were presented without any background effects “to ensure full clarity”.
Paddy Power said it had met the standard specification for UK radio broadcasters. However, the firm explained that they had actually raised the volume of the terms and conditions section of the ad to take into account any dip in volume as a result of the change of speaker and tone of voice.
The decision by the ASA was that the complaint was upheld. The advertising watchdog indicated that the key phrase in the advert, “Get money back as a free bet if one leg of your Bet Builder lets you down – PaddyPower”, was spoken at a lower volume than the rest of the ad and a much faster pace.
As a result, the ASA stated that Paddy Power had breached BCAP Code rules 3.1 and 3.2 (misleading advertising) and 3.10 and 3.11 (qualification).
It was ruled that the ad could not appear in its current form. Paddy Power was told to ensure that significant limitations and material information were presented to the public clearly and intelligibly in future ads.
This comes after the ASA looked into another complaint made against the firm in December 2021, but Paddy Power changed the wording on that ad voluntarily without the need for an ASA investigation.