888 to withdraw 'baffling' advert campaign in London

[The Buzz]

888.com announced it will pull its controversial advertising campaign from locations like the London transport network. This comes after significant backlash over the tone and content of the ads, which prompted criticism of London Mayor Sadiq Khan for initially allowing them to run.

With the mayoral election in London less than a week away, Khan's main rival, Conservative candidate Susan Hall, has joined a leading clinician and a group of peers in questioning the "baffling" decision by Transport for London to accept 888.com's ad campaign in the first place. The move to withdraw the ads highlights the heated debate around gambling advertising and its potential impacts in the lead-up to the mayoral vote.

From The Guardian:

In recent weeks 888.com had launched a campaign on the London Underground, trains and buses, featuring slogans such as “This carriage is now a casino”. Some black cabs carry the slogan “Fancy a spin?”.

But on Friday, after a request for comment from the Guardian, 888.com confirmed it would withdraw some of the ads, although it did not say which ones. It said the ads “could be interpreted in a different manner to the brand position we aim for”.

The decision is thought to be a response to criticism of the tone in which the ads promote online casino games, which are associated with higher rates of harm than most other gambling products, according to NHS survey data.

TfL said the 888 ads complied with the advertising regulator’s broadcasting code and its own policies, including that the ads should not “trivialise gambling”.

Khan’s closest rival on the mayoral race, Hall, said: “Sadiq Khan’s inconsistency in what adverts he allows and what ones he bans is baffling for Londoners. He is … banning adverts featuring cheese or strawberries and cream, while being completely relaxed about vaping and gambling?

“We need a common sense, clear approach to this, not one that allows the mayor … to play favourites.”

Read the article here: https://www.theguardian.com/society/...after-backlash

[tufty]

There is wall to wall gambling advertising across the UK - so you'd think it would all blend in - but this campaign was brain dead. No surprise it was sponsored by the morons at 888 / William Hill. In fairness, he may be a toxic piece of sh1te, but you can hardly blame mayor Sadiq Khan for it, unless he is moonlighting at 888's marketing dept.

[LuciusB]

Hah, yeah, these guys sometimes act as if they own the place - I get you're a household name, mate, but tone it down a bit, eh?