SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Ladbrokes marketing has been forced to pull down an email campaign featuring Manchester United Dutch footballer Memphis Depay.
Memphis Depay (22) image was used in a ‘Don’t Miss Out – Money Back’ email promotion by Ladbrokes.
The UK Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) branded the advertisement as ‘irresponsible’, since it featured an image of a athlete aged under 25 attached to a betting promotion. The image used by Ladbrokes breaches current UK advertising practices for gambling products.
Contacted by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), Ladbrokes admitted that they were at fault for the use of Depay’s image. The bookmaker insisted that its marketing team was aware of standards and obligations required by the CAP Code.
Ladbrokes CAP breach comes a week after ASA lodged complaints against bet365, Coral and Totesport regarding the use of an image of American golfer Jordan Spieth (22) on Twitter.
CAP guidelines state that images of professional athletes aged under 25 can only be used on bookmakers owned inventory/domains (website, app et). UK bookmakers are not allowed to use images of athletes aged under 25 to promote services on external media channels (Twitter, Facebook, email)
