Free TV Australia (FTV) and Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) have criticised an attempt by the Labor Party to amend the Interactive Gambling Bill to phase out and ban advertising of betting odds and gambling commercials during live sports broadcasts.
FTV describes the bans as “unwarranted” and CRA dismisses them as “counterproductive” in releases sent today.
“There has been no consultation with the industry,” says Joan Warner, CRA CEO.
“Commercial broadcasters already have the most comprehensive, targeted set of restrictions on the promotion of betting services of any media platform in Australia,” says FTV CEO Brett Savill.
Measures already in place include a ban on the promotion of live odds during play, as well as a ban on the promotion of odds by commentators and their guests for 30 minutes before and after play. These are in addition to family viewing time safeguards prohibiting:
All advertisements relating to betting and gambling
during programs classified G netweem 6am and 8:30am and 4pm and 7pm,
all advertisements relating to betting and gambling during any program that is braodcast between 5am and 8:30pm and that is principally directed to children, regardless of classification.
“The industry worked closely with ACMA to develop the codes
to ensure they met community expectations,” says Warner. “Given there have been no complaints on this topic, any further restrictions cannot be justified.”
The FTV release says “Complaints about betting are low, and broadcasters have demonstrated very high levels of compliance to the Code over a sustained period”.
“The recently published Australian Gambling Statistics
indicate that total sports betting turnover represents less than 4% of total gambling turnover,” it says.
Neither industry body’s release discloses the revenue it makes from betting advertising, nor what it stands to lose if the proposed further bans eventuate.
The Super Bowl ad aired by Cards Against Humanity featured a potato and nothing else.
The Super Bowl ad for card game brand Cards Against Humanity was a 30-second video of a potato with ‘advertisement’ written on it.
It makes no mention of the brand – or anything else at all – whatsoever. During the broadcast, it caused confusion among viewers, who took to social to share in the bewilderment.
On the same day as the broadcast, the brand issued a lengthy statement titled ‘Why Our Super Bowl Ad Failed,’ listing a number of reasons the ad was unsuccessful, including:
“We wasted time on establishment thinking”
six months time to be exact, with an ad agency who were “burdened by conventional thinking”, leading Cards Against Humanity to fire the agency with only 48 hours until the broadcast.
“Overconfidence in the model. After firing the agency, we conducted extensive market research which demonstrated that the central african republic cell phone database American consumer loves potatoes.”
“Bad Luck… we assumed that potatoes would feature more prominently in this year’s Super Bowl, however, no players were shown eating a potato, and potatoes were not mentioned at all.”
Other problems include “our ad failed to connect with young people” and “we forgot to mention our product.”
The list goes on, with the main problem being “sports fans ultimately had trouble making the leap from ‘Super Bowl’ to ‘potato’ to ‘Cards Against Humanity’.”
The Super Bowl was watched by 114.4 million people. The price-tag for a 30-second spot this year was reportedly $5 million.
The ad continues to engage social media users and has had over 200,000 views on Youtube. While initially causing confusion, now that the connection has been made to the card game, it’s being hailed as a pretty clever move.