Kwiff TV ad banned for “juvenile behaviour”

Betting app Kwiff has had a television advert banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for the second time in two weeks after its December campaign depicted juvenile behaviour.

The ad showed a group of men excited in a childlike manner by the idea of popping bubble wrap before going on to pop the bubble wrap with great enjoyment.

The ad voiceover said: “What does getting Kwiffed feel like? It feels like the end of a school day. The teacher says no homework tonight. But there was one thing I need you all to do. I need you to pop all these bubbles for me. Do you think you could do that?”

Adverts featuring juvenile behaviour are prohibited in gambling ads under the BCAP Code and the ASA considered popping bubble wrap was mostly enjoyed by young children.

The regulatory body concluded that the popping of bubble wrap therefore depicted juvenile behaviour and ruled the ad must not appear again in its current form despite the ad agency’s protestations that bubble wrap was likely to be of general, rather than of particular appeal to u18s.

The ad is Kwiff’s second TV promotion to get banned from December 2017 after the betting app misled punters with false odds during a Champions League tie.

Elsewhere, Paddy Power escaped ASA sanctions after two viewers complained about its revamped singing security guard advert.

The original advert was banned for demonstrating gambling in the workplace, but the new ad showed the same security guard gambling on his mobile phone in a café while on a break.

Two complainants challenged whether the ad was socially irresponsible because they believed it showed the security guard was desperate to gamble during his break and portrayed gambling as taking priority in life.

The ASA ruled no action was necessary because the ad made clear he was on his break from work, and so gambling was not presented as taking priority over work or social commitments.