Ever since the United Kingdom has allowed online gambling companies to advertise in the press and electronic media, Ladbrokes Casino has come to be known as much for its advertisements as the great gaming it offers. A common theme that runs through Ladbrokes’ advertisements is that the online casino offers more thrills and excitement than most of the wacky things people can do.
The latest TV campaign features a game of hide and seek with a giant Sifaka Lemur. The player tries to find a hiding place while the lemur undertakes the statutory count of hundred. Ultimately the player hides in a dustbin. The lemur howls “… 98, 99,100, coming ready or not” and hops through the streets searching for the hidden player. When the lemur finds the player it is the lemur’s turn to hide and the player’s turn to seek. The promotional press release for the advertisement states, “The brand new light hearted ad shows that you don’t need to go to the extreme lengths of playing hide and seek with an oversized lemur in order to get your thrills. You can simply head to ladbrokescasino.com where you’ll find over 380 online casino games to satisfy your needs for thrill and excitement.” The advertisement was a creation of M&C Saatchi, a leading advertising agency. It was directed by Scott Lyon. Charlie Goodenough, Head of Marketing at Ladbrokes Casino, said that these advertisements help differentiate Ladbrokes from the other online casinos. He said, “It’s great to be back on air with another innovative creative” obviously referring to the advertisements that were banned in January 2009.
One of those advertisements had a scuba diver attaching raw meat to his suit and entering shark-infested waters. The other displayed a skydiver using an empty crisp packet as a parachute. The punch line in both commercials was “If only he’d seen ladbrokescasino.com; it would have quenched his thrill buds.” The ads were an exhortation for getting thrills at the online casino instead of doing the wacky things shown. However the ASA took the view that the ads would in effect promote the reckless acts displayed and did not allow them to go on air.
It is unlikely that the ASA will find anything objectionable to the latest lemur advertisement. The ad can be viewed at the Ladbrokes Casino web site. In order to celebrate the launch of the new TV campaign Ladbrokes Casino is offering a no deposit bonus of £25 to all new players. In order to claim this bonus players have to register and open a real play account at Ladbrokes Casino. Though no deposit is required players have to furnish their credit card details for verification purposes. Then they have to enter their email address and Ladbrokes username in the claim form. The process is expected to take about 48 hours.
Ladbrokes Casino is powered by software from Microgaming. It is licensed and regulated in Gibraltar and audited by eCOGRA.
