Camelot UK, the company which operates the National Lottery, evaded punishment from the local advertising regulatory body, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
A total of 24 complaints have been filed against the operator, with three of its adverts put under the spotlight, after being blamed for creating a wrong impression among potential customers. The three ads in question, which were seen in September 2018, told the story of a family who had purchased a new house after winning a large lottery prize. The main ad was 120 seconds long, with the second and the third ones lasting 60 and 30 seconds, respectively. The two subsequent adverts were also edited versions of the first ad.
The complainants reached the ASA to challenge whether the three adverts suggested that taking part in a lottery could eventually solve players’ financial problems.
National Lottery’s Response to the Accusations
The operator of the National Lottery, Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd., responded to the accusations, saying that the ad was actually shot in a working fishing village and showed a hard-working family who did their best to deal with their lives before they won a prize from the National Lottery.
What is more, the company further claimed that it made sure that the original home of the family who won the prize looked in a way that did not imply that the family was facing financial struggles before winning the Lottery. It also deliberately avoided creating an impression that the man in the ad did not enjoy his work and was playing the lottery as an alternative to work.
On the other hand, the new home bought by the wife in the ad was nothing luxurious, actually. It was simply a home of a modest family, and it was even situated in the same village as their original home, and such a house could be purchased for what is considered a “modest” sum when compared to a large lottery win. That is the reason why Camelot UK believed that they had done nothing to create false impressions in potential customers.
UK Advertising Watchdog Investigation Conclusions and Ruling
The ASA took into consideration the accusations filed by the complainants and investigated the three ads in question. It investigated the three ads under the existing BCAP Code rules, and more specifically rule 18.2.3 regarding Lotteries.
The UK advertising watchdog found that the original ad did not draw any special attention to the transaction at the time when the woman bought a lottery ticket in a small local shop. The storyline of the ad was not also found to highlight the lottery game as a major part of it, and there were some twists in the plot which did not suggest that the big decision mentioned in the ad was in any way associated with a lottery win.
The Advertising Standards Authority did not find any implications that the family was going through a financial crisis. In addition, the regulator said that the new house was not depicted as a luxurious property and was actually located in close proximity to the old one, and the ad did not suggest in any way that the lottery win would allow the man to stop working. The same applied to the two other adverts, which were released as edited versions of the first one.
Therefore, the ASA did not find that there was a breach of any BCAP Code rules and ruled that no further action is necessary on behalf of the operator.
- Author
Olivia Cole
