Coral Advert Mistakenly Aired during Children's TV Slot

An advert for the UK bookmaker Coral was broadcast nine times on Saturday 25 May between 06:42 and 08:42 on Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network and Boomerang channels, which represents a breach of gambling advertising rules, the British Broadcasting Corporation reports. As soon as the Advertising Standards Authority received complaints, Coral instantly removed the adverts and has been cleared of any wrongdoing. Turner for their part explained that the advert had been broadcast by mistake, and had "apologised unreservedly", the ASA says. Immediately after the complaints about the broadcast were received, Coral said it was "horrified" by the unintentional transmission. The advert opened with a voiceover saying: "This is Coral gaming, online and on mobile" and went on to show a shot of the Incredible Hulk theme of one of the available games. As per the UK broadcast code, airing gambling adverts is strictly prohibited "in or adjacent to programmes commissioned for, principally directed at, or likely to appeal particularly to audiences below the age of 18 years". ASA said the advert had been cleared as the broadcasters were reminded of the gambling industry's voluntary agreement not to schedule gaming ads before 21:00. Announcing that no further action was necessary due to the fact that the advert had already been removed from broadcast, ASA expressed its concerns, but acknowledged Turner's assurance that it was taking steps to prevent the same mistake happening again. Turner explained that the ad had been "inadvertently and incorrectly scheduled" by allocating a wrong booking number to the advert. "We apologise unreservedly and have reviewed our transmission processes to ensure this highly regrettable incident remains a one-off occurrence," Turner said. Coral underlined it had not booked advertising air time on children's channels or during children's programs. Additionally, the company started an investigation and suspended all other ads due to be aired by Turner that weekend. In parallel, ASA also took action against a William Hill television ad for showing “sensual areas” of a female casino croupier's body thus linking gambling to sex and seduction, the publication Marketing Week reports. The disputable ad starts with a close-up of a woman slowly opening her eyes and looking straight at the camera; the next shot shows her cleavage and then a roulette wheel, a pack of playing cards and gambling chips. A voiceover states “experience a live casino like no other”. The ad concludes with a familiar shot of land casino croupiers - female in gold basque-type tops and male croupiers wearing suits. Though the ad is not explicitly seductive, the Gambling Reform and Society Perception Group (GRASP) and one other viewer reacted complaining the spot linked gambling to seduction. William Hill answered that the ad did not claim in any way that gambling increased consumers' sexual attractiveness, nor did it link gambling to seduction. According to broadcast clearing body Clearcast, the ad did not show anyone gambling, thus there could be no link to seduction, sexual success or enhanced attractiveness. However, ASA disagrees with Clearcast saying the focus on the eyes in the first scene could be interpreted as a “signal of attraction”, the shot of “sensual areas” of the female croupier's body refers to seduction, while the voice-over and the roulette images confirm it is a gambling ad.