BetMGM escapes ASA punishment while MrQ complaint upheld

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has sided with BetMGM after the regulator determined the operator’s use of Chris Rock in its marketing campaign was not of a strong appeal to children or young people.

Rock has been the face of BetMGM since September 2023, when the Hollywood actor and comedian was hired for the launch of the LeoVegas Group-owned operator’s UK brand.

The TV ad in question was broadcast on 4 October 2023 but the ASA received three complaints arguing he would be of strong appeal to people under 18.

The commercial features Rock on a gold speedboat outside the Bellagio in Las Vegas before arriving on the Thames in London, accompanied by lion.

Rock is shown throughout the ad, with BetMGM stating the business carried out a “full risk assessment of his profile” when selecting him as a brand ambassador.

At 58, and the fact Rock is not a UK-based personality and a “well-known adult-orientated stand-up comedian and actor […] associated with adult themes”, the firm believed he would not appeal to young people.

BetMGM also evaluated Rock’s filmography, namely as a voice actor in children’s animated films. Despite being a voice actor in the Madagascar franchise dating back to 2005, the last film was released in 2014.

With promotion for that franchise taking place over a decade ago, the operator argued that anyone who was a fan would likely be over 18 nowadays.

Rock has also appeared as a narrator in the 2020 film the Witches, a remake of the 1990s book by Roahl Dahl, which would be considered appealing to under 18s, and was in the Paw Patrol film in 2023 for five seconds saying 15 words.

BetMGM argued “his role in the film was insignificant and therefore the risk of his character having strong appeal to under 18s was extremely low”.

The famed comedian has also appeared in “family-oriented” films such as Grown Ups and Grown Ups 2 in 2010 and 2013, respectively.

With both movies having a 12 rating, not available on child-specific profiles on streaming services and the length of time since its release, the company believed someone under the age of 18 would not watch them.

BetMGM added that Rock’s personal appearance had changed since then and his character in the film would not appeal to children.

With his more recent appearances in films being adult-themed movies and his 2023 Netflix comedy special featuring content warning of “drug references, language, sex references and discrimination”, the operator believed Rock was known as an adult-focused personality.

BetMGM also assessed Rock’s 2022 incident with Will Smith, which saw an explosion of memes on social media for the controversial slap Smith administered to the host (Rock) at that year’s Oscars ceremony.

The operator said that the memes were static images, did not feature his voice and that both the awards and nature of the memes did not appeal to children.

In terms of social media followings, which the ASA takes into account when determining if a personality would appeal to children, BetMGM dived into his Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter followers.

BetMGM estimated that 567 of Rock’s 113,400 UK-based Instagram followers were under 18 and 508 of his 507,600 X followers were in the same demographic.

Globally, Rock has more than 22 million social media followers, with 11.7 million on his two active platforms. BetMGM said by October 2023, 99.78% of Rock’s followers were over the age of 18.

The LeoVegas Group-owned subsidiary added that Rock’s social media content, which included “marketing of his adult comedy shows, political matters and adult humour” would not appeal to children.

Having contacted CAP Copy Advice team, BetMGM said no concerns were raised regarding Rock being of appeal to under-18s and pre-clearance ad service Clearcast said it was satisfied Rock was not of strong appeal to those aged 18 or under, with his fan base being mainly aged 25 and above.

The ASA view

Assessing the TV ad, the ASA did not uphold the three complaints, siding with BetMGM in its evidence around Rock’s movies, social media following and details of the ad.

When assessing Rock’s presentation in the TV ad, the ASA said: “We noted that he was dressed in a tuxedo with a life jacket, and considered that the clothes he was wearing were not reflective of youth culture, and therefore his presentation was likely not to be of strong appeal to under-18s.

In terms of Rock’s role in animated and family films, the ASA said given the length of time since release of the Madagascar franchise and his small role in The Witches and Paw Patrol, and the fact he was only a voice actor, meant he was not likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s.

For social media, the ASA established Rock’s global under-18 following amounted to 36,900 people, which “did not suggest a strong appeal to that age group”.

The ASA confirmed that no further action would be taken as a result.

It’s Christmas

However, despite BetMGM being let off the hook, MrQ strayed into the ASA’s crosshairs after the regulator held up a complaint made against the Lindar Media-owned bingo and casino brand.

The complaint related to a paid-for Facebook ad seen on 23 December 2023, with text reading “Deposit £20 and get 75 Free Spins” in between a Santa emoji and a present emoji.

Below the text was a cartoon Santa driving a snow plough with the Big Bass Christmas Bash game logo. Another image depicted the same Santa driving a vehicle alongside an elf holding a “colourful bazooka”.

The single complainant challenged whether the cartoon image of Santa and the elf would appeal to children.

MrQ argued that the paid-for ad was a “socially responsible way” of keeping it away from children and young people and did not believe anyone under the age of 25 had seen it.

However, the ASA said that because the characters in the ad were colourful cartoons, it would appeal to children.

The ASA added that Santa was considered “high risk” in its appeal to under-18s and that Facebook allowed users to self-verify their age, there was not a “robust age-verification” process in place.

The ASA said: “We considered that it would have been acceptable for the ad to appear in a medium where under-18s, for all intents and purposes, could be entirely excluded from the audience.

“That would apply in circumstances where those who saw the ad had been robustly age-verified as being 18 or older, such as through marketing lists that had been validated by payment data or credit checking.

“However, because Facebook was a media environment where users self-verified on customer sign-up and did not use robust age-verification, we considered MrQ.com had not excluded under-18s from the audience with the highest level of accuracy required for gambling ads where their content was likely to appeal strongly to under-18s.”

MrQ had confirmed that the ad had since been withdrawn, which the ASA acknowledged, but that it still breached the CAP code.

The ASA informed MrQ that the ad must not appear again and that the operator should not include “themes or imagery that were likely to have strong appeal to those under 18 years of age in their ads in future”.