BetFair’s Ad Caused Quite a Commotion

Advertisements are a great way to get your company's name out in the market and attract more potential customers or, in the case of online casinos, players.  This is one surefire way of getting known outside its niche, and advertising can definitely increase once revenues.  But one ad in particular caught the attention of many and earned their annoyance and, for those who are against gambling in any form, anger.

The BetFair Ad

Maybe it was not intentional or maybe it was, but I bet nobody will tell and nobody is surely going to admit to the «ad fiasco» that BetFair created.  Their ad featured a young girl, and its tagline said, "Online experience is measured in games, not years.  Join the new breed.  Annette_15."

This advertisement earned the irk of many people since it was seen as promoting online gambling to minors, what with 18 years old and over seen as the legal age to join, play, and bet in online casinos.  The ad, in fact, featured Annette Obrestad who won in the Main Event of WSOPE, and her online screen name is Annette_15.  Although she is 20 years old right now, many still see the ad as enticing minors to play at online casinos, especially since she looked much younger in the picture.  Furthermore, not everyone, especially those who are not in the online poker world, knows who she is, so to anybody who sees the ad, the first thing that would come to their minds is that BetFair is targeting minors to start gambling online.  Also, those who have seen the ad have no reason to think that Obrestad is, in fact, 20 when her screen name screams 15.  All they see is an online casino that is targeting minors to play at their site, by featuring a very young girl going by the name of Annette_15.

Responsible Advertising

Complaints of the said ad have reached the Advertising Standards Authority, and steps have been made to ban the BetFair ad, so those against gambling can now rest assured that they are never going to see the ad in public again.

Although I am pretty sure that BetFair did not mean for the ad to go that way, especially since they know that gambling under the age of 18 is illegal, still, they should have employed responsible advertising.  But bad press or not, people learned of BetFair and took notice because of the ad, and the ad did serve its purpose — to create a name.

TagsBetFair, gambling, Obrestad, online casino, poker, WSOPE

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