Happy Tiger Bingo has been warned by the Advertising Standards Authority to stop featuring anyone in their advertisements who is or seems to be under 25 years old.
This comes after the ASA received a complaint about one of the operator’s adverts from October and November last year which featured a testimonial by a person who was described as a ‘postgraduate student’ via on-screen text.
The advertising authority noted that the person featured in the advert said the following:
“The most fun game on Happy Tiger for me has to be the bingo games. Just because of the bingo flash feature, like it’s exciting, obviously, trying to get one line, two lines, three lines, but when the Bingo flash appears, and you see that £2,500 it’s like, yeah I wanna [sic] get that. So yeah, it’s really fun because you’re more involved with it, but it’s not overly complicated or anything like that.”
The complainant challenged whether the ad breached the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising under rule 17.4.6, which states that gambling ads must not “feature anyone who is, or seems to be, under 25 years old gambling or playing a significant role. No-one may behave in an adolescent, juvenile or loutish way”.
In response, Happy Tiger provided proof that the person in the advert was 25 years old at the time of filming.
The ASA added that the operator believes the person “did not have any features which made him appear younger than his actual age, and the on-screen text, which identified him as a “postgraduate student”, was unlikely to suggest to the audience that he was under 25 years old”.
Clearcast, a non-governmental organisation which pre-approves advertising, confirmed that they had verified the individual’s age before approving the ad.
In addition, Clearcast acknowledged that the “postgraduate student” on-screen text may have caused viewers to believe he was younger than 25 since he was still in education, but since only one complaint was received by the ASA, they believed it was “not a widespread interpretation”.
However, while acknowledging that the individual in Happy Tiger’s advert was 25 at the time of filming, the ASA considered the person to have a “youth appearance”, “appeared self-conscious” and used filler words such as “obviously”, “like” and “so yeah” often.
The advertising authority noted that it believes “viewers would associate his speaking style and body language with youth and immaturity, and along with his youthful appearance, that was likely to give the impression that he was under the age of 25”.
The ASA added that the “postgraduate student” on-screen text meant that viewers were likely to interpret the person as in their “early twenties” since UK students typically begin “a bachelor’s degree between the ages of 17 and 19 and that qualification was usually completed in three or four years”.
Therefore, the ASA deemed that the text “reinforced the impression that he was under the age of 25”, concluding that the ad breached the BCAP code for featuring someone who seemed to be under 25 years old.
The authority has told Happy Tiger that the ad must not be broadcasted again in its current form and that they must not feature “anyone in their ads who was, or seemed to be under 25 years old, for example, through their physical appearance, behaviour or occupational status”.
Earlier this month, Buzz Bingo was warned by the ASA to not include themes and imagery within its adverts that could appeal to those under 18 years old after receiving a complaint about a cartoon Halloween ad.
