Ladbrokes Fight Complaint Over Goonies Advert and Win
Ladbrokes have defended a recent advert which featured The Goonies slot game, after a complaint was made that it could be viewed as appealing to children. Despite the advert not featuring any cartoon style imagery, the fact the slot was based on a children’s film, was at the heart of the complaint.
The Goonies Film
The Goonies was released in 1985 and followed a group of young teenagers as they ventured out in search of lost treasure with the help of an old map. This soon turned into desperate chase as a family of criminals also wanted to get their hands on the treasure. The Goonies slot was developed by Blueprint gaming and released in 2018, with several follow-on slots released after. It features characters and iconic images from the film.
ASA Complaint
The complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) was made after a Facebook advert appeared on 31st March 2021. The Ad stated ‘Play The Goonies Jpk at Ladbrokes. Get 30+ Free Spins on top of your £50’. It featured the slot’s logo which was the text ‘The Goonies’, gold doubloons and a treasure map.
The complaint was that a slot game based on a children’s film, was likely to appeal to under 18s and therefore broke the rules on advertising.
Complaint Dismissed
Ladbrokes immediately removed the advert in question while they investigated. After reviewing, Ladbrokes said that no imagery or characters from the film were used and there was nothing on the advert that they felt would be more appealing to children. They also said that because The Goonies was released in 1985, under 18s were unlikely to have heard of or seen the film, compared to adults who grew up watching it. Therefore, it was aimed at that generation of adults.
The ASA agreed with this too, stating:
“We considered that because of that, it was not a recent or current film with which children were likely to be familiar… However, given its popularity among adults, we did not consider that it was likely to appeal more to under-18s than over-18s.
“We noted that while the ad featured ‘The Goonies’ logo and typeface, it did not feature any characters or other imagery from the film. We considered that the nautical map and golden doubloons featured in the ad were not colourful, cartoonish, or otherwise presented in a way that was likely to resonate with children and were more likely to have general or adult appeal.”
