The Advertising Standards Authority has dismissed complaints that challenged whether BetMGM’s TV advert featuring Chris Rock was of strong appeal to those under 18 years old.
Seen on October 4, 2023, the advert in question was part of BetMGM’s launch in the UK market, featuring Rock on a golden speed boat with a lion, travelling from the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas to the River Thames in London, ushering in a “golden era” for sports betting and online casino.
The ASA noted that three complainants challenged whether the ad included an individual who was likely to be of strong appeal to those under 18 years of age, and therefore breached the code.
In response, BetMGM’s UK operating partner LeoVegas noted that an extensive assessment was carried out to select a campaign ambassador who wouldn’t appeal to anyone under 18, including a full risk assessment of Rock’s suitability.
BetMGM believed that because he was 58 years of age and was not a UK-based personality, he was not likely to be known to under-18s in the UK. In addition, the operator noted that Rock is “a well-known adult-orientated stand-up comedian and actor who, when appearing visually as himself, was associated with adult themes”, to which the ASA agreed.
The operator claimed that Rock, when appearing visually as himself, met the criteria despite his past work with child-focused animated productions such as the Madagascar franchise, as “those characters did not visually depict Mr Rock as himself”.
Also, BetMGM stated that those audiences who were impacted by the franchise’s movie releases predominately between 2005-2008 would now be over 18, while he had a significantly reduced role in the final film aired in 2014.
The operator commented on Rock’s work as a narrator in the 2020 film The Witches, noting that since his character was “not a starring role or aspirational to children, he would not be considered appealing to those under 18”, while also spotlighting that the film was a dark fantasy horror with a UK release on certain paid-for streaming platforms.
The operator highlighted that Rock’s appearance in a 2023 Paw Patrol film lasted for five seconds and 15 words and was “insignificant and therefore the risk of his character having strong appeal to under-18s was extremely low”.
The ASA agreed with BetMGM’s assessment and stated: “Because all of the characters he portrayed in the films that we considered would strongly appeal to children were limited to voice-over roles, and there were no visual or physical similarities between the characters he portrayed and his appearance in the ad, we considered that, within the context of his overall career profile, he would likely not be of strong appeal to under-18s in the UK.”
BetMGM also remarked that Rock appeared in the 2010 and 2013 family-orientated films Grown Ups and Grown Ups 2, stating that since the 12-rating films weren’t heavily marketed despite being available on streaming platforms, they weren’t available to children.
In addition, the operator noted that time had passed since the film’s respective releases, they were predominantly adult-themed with his role as a father not of strong appeal to children, and that his appearance had changed since the film’s releases and his presentation in the ad was not similar to his character in the films, to which the ASA agreed.
BetMGM highlighted that the advert targeted adults with its components such as an orchestra, gambling references, Las Vegas and the background song itself by Public Enemy, and it didn’t reference animated characters Rock has portrayed.
The ASA noted that most of the components from the advert’s presentation wouldn’t have been of strong appeal to children, apart from the speedboat and lion which may have been of interest to children.
Details were also provided on Rock’s social media accounts, where he was active only on a small number of platforms. The operator stated that Rock had 22 million followers globally across social media with 11.7 million across the two platforms where he was active – X and Instagram. Of these accounts, 99.78 per cent of his followers were over 18 in July 2023.
A mathematical approximation based on available data was used to estimate the total number of UK-based followers that were under 18 since it was “only possible to view an age demographic breakdown of a user’s followers as a percentage of the total number of their followers globally”.
Rock’s total number of followers based in the UK was used and then applied to the percentage of under-18 followers globally to get the estimated number of UK followers under 18 on each active social media platform.
On Instagram, of his 113,400 UK-based followers, they estimated that 567 would have been under 18. On X, of his 507,6000 UK-based followers, they estimated that 508 would have been under 18.
These platforms also focused on marketing his adult comedy shows, political matters and adult humour. As a result, BetMGM believed both the demographic data and the content demonstrated Rock was not of strong appeal to under-18s, an assessment which the ASA agreed with.
In determining Rock’s suitability for the ad, the operator also reviewed the actor’s significance in popular culture, including an incident involving Rock and Will Smith at the March 2022 Academy Awards which resulted in the circulation of memes involving the two actors.
BetMGM claimed that since the memes were static images, didn’t include his voice and were “aggressive in nature”, BetMGM stated that they “would not have inherently appealed to children,” in addition to the assertion that the Academy Awards was not known for its appeal to children.
The ASA partially disagreed and noted that the high-profile incident had an impact on Rock’s appeal to children since the memes would have been shared across social media popular with under-18s.
However, since 18 months had passed since the incident by the time the advert aired in October 2023, they determined that “the event and memes did not make him of strong appeal to under-18s in the UK”.
BetMGM also noted that they had contacted the CAP Copy Advice team before publishing a poster that formed part of the same campaign as the ad in question that featured a static image of Rock, who did not raise any concerns. Reasons as to why Rock was the appropriate spokesperson for the brand were also given to Clearcast.
As a result, the ASA “concluded that the ad was not of strong appeal to children or young persons” and that the ad was investigated “under BCAP Code rules 17.4 and 17.4.5 (Gambling), but did not find it in breach”, so no further action will be taken.
