Coral Feels the Wrath of ASA Over Irresponsible Advertising
Coral Interactive Ltd is the latest big name in the iGaming industry to suffer the backlash of regulators over advertising deemed to be attractive to children and young people.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled in favour of a complaint filed that claimed that three games which were promoted by Coral on February 20th (2018) appealed specifically to children, intentionally or otherwise.
What happened?
The games in question are Rainbow Riches, which showed an animated image of a rainbow alongside a leprechaun, Fishin’ Frenzy, which showed a cartoon fish, and Lucky Wizard, the artwork of which included an animated wizard.
The debate
There were very different opinions on the issue from Coral and the ASA.
Of Rainbow Riches, Coral said the advert was “Not over the top in its look, or mimicking any particular style that would make the graphics more appealing to a younger audience”.
ASA, on the other hand, said the “highly stylised” image included “a colourful background showing a bright yellow road which was an iconic fictional element in a famous children’s novel”.
The fish in Fish Frenzy were shown in a “cute, child-like manner” according to the ASA, while Coral said a large image of a fish had been removed before the ad was put up, and any others “did not have any specific resemblance to any species that could be identified as being associated with characters from animated films that were likely to appeal to children and young persons”.
Coral also claimed the wizard being the sole detail of the artwork for Lucky Wizard made it OK, while the ASA claimed the exaggerated, animated style was likely to appeal to children.
ASA ruled in favour of the complaint, and those three adverts are now banned from being shown at any Coral Interactive Ltd sites.