FanBet Suicide Ad Draws Agency’s Ire
Is FanBet Becoming the New Paddy Power? We have come to expect provocative advertisements from the fine folks at Ireland-based Paddy Power (mocking of the paraplegic runner Oscar Pistorius during his murder trial with the caption “Will He Walk”).
Now it seems another online gambling firm is trying to up the ante.
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FanBet.com, a company that streams live picks and stats from winning bettors 24/7, has come under fire for running an ad on a Premier League football fan site, Arsenal Station, promising to show tips on how to win more often.
Nothing wrong with that. It’s the rest of the advertisement that had the Advertising Standards Authority up in arms.
The third frame of the ad ran with the text “save yourself” with a silhouette of a man hanging from a rope by his neck.
FanBet said that it had not intended to cause harm or offence, and removed the ad after it was contacted by the ASA.
Not that they had much of a choice in the matter.
The ASA writes:
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told FanBet to ensure their future ads were responsible, particularly with regard to the need to protect vulnerable groups, and that they contained nothing that was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
