Today another gambling ad has been banned from our screens by the Advertising Standards Authority.
This time William Hill was the company to fall foul of the ASA's strict guidelines.
The British bookmaker has been harshly criticised after an advert for it's online bingo service was taken out of circulation for condoning "socially irresponsible" gambling.
The advert showed a woman hurrying her husband off to work by moving the hands of the kitchen clock forward, before running upstairs to play William Hill online bingo and stating " I get mine the minute he's out the door". She later moved the hands of the clock back saying "Doesn't time fly."
In a ruling the ASA said the advert (which you can see by clicking on http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2008/may/28/advertising.william.hill) "implied the woman was desperate to play bingo and was either unable to wait any longer or wanted to keep that secret from her husband."
Understandably industry figures are bemused by the hard line being taken by the ASA in relation to this gambling add.
For example it could easily be argued that ads run for alcoholic drinks such as 'Wicked' are 'socially irresponsible' but it seems the ASA find no fault with these.
But is the gambling advertising sector being treated unfairly or is that just the industry perception?
Just four weeks ago online casino operators Paddy Power and Inter Casino became the first gaming companies to be punished by the ASA.
The independent regualtor stated that a series of four advertisements from Inter Casino featuring two people of
restricted growth dressed in various gambling related costumes with a voiceover mocking a Japanese games show contravened rules because they appealed to children and young people.As for Paddy Power the ASA took issue with a commercial which featured a short man in the back of a stretch limousine flanked by two glamorous looking women. The regulator stated that the on-screen message 'Who says you can't make money being short?' had irresponsibly linked gambling to seduction, sexual success and enhanced attractiveness.
These three examples while hard to understand are rare it has to be said and the ASA for the most part has no problem with the huge majority of UK gambling ads which make it to our screens.
The rules relating to gambling advertising were tightened last year to ban advertising before the watershed following concern from charities and experts, forbid adverts that display gambling as a solution to financial problems or link it to increased sexual attractiveness or popularity.
In February the ASA said the new rules appeared to be working with just seven adverts, or 1% of the total, found to be in breach of the advertising code. Until its finding against William Hill, the ASA had only formally investigated one TV campaign following viewer complaints - a Ladbrokes ad featuring ex-footballers Ian Wright, Lee Dixon and Ally McCoist (Pictured left). On that occasion the ASA cleared Ladbrokes of breaching its code. The InterCasino and Paddy Power ads were banned before public showing.
