The Advertising Standards Authority has been very prominent in bingo advertising news in recent times, and the latest online bingo site to attract their attention has been Wink Bingo. The National press advert depicts a nurse at work in a maternity ward, and she is celebrating her bingo win. Behind her is a man holding a teddy bear and looking surprised while a woman is lying in bed under a sign that reads “Maternity Unit”. The nurse is next to a trolley, holding surgical equipment and a laptop. The laptop reads “Wink Bingo Winner”.
The advertisement was created by Spacebar Media and the catchphrase is “Find the appropriate moment…..”. The ASA was asked to scrutinize whether the ad breached rules by bingo being played as a priority over professional commitment. They found that the ad did portray gambling in the workplace and was condoning gambling in the workplace, and banned the ad.
Spacebar Media responded by saying that they wanted to portray the ad as being cheeky and naught in order to differentiate Wink Bingo from the rest of online bingo sites. They said that the ad was meant to depict a fantasy situation and that the wardrobe and props were not authentic. The real midwife it could be supposed; was hidden behind the screen. But the ASA did not buy this explanation, they said that they could understand the concept that the ad was not supposed to depict a real life situation, and was supposed to have a humorous side to it, but it nonetheless still depicted a professional nurse, ignoring a woman giving birth and playing online bingo. The catchphrase was also misleading in that is condoned gambling while at work. The upshot of this is that the ad is not allowed to appear again in its present form.
Tags: gambling, playing online bingo, Wink Bingo