ASA labels Betway Lewis Hamilton ad 'irresponsible'

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has concluded that a Betway ad featuring racing star Lewis Hamilton was 'irresponsible and breached the [CAP] Code.'

The ad, posted to Facebook on 4 July, featured a video of three F1 drivers watching a race with Union Jack flags either side of them, with 'HAMILTON' written on the middle uniform. Text appears, stating: 'WHO'S THE BEST OF THE BRITS?', with the caption below the video reading: 'It's the British GP this weekend and there's more than one local hero vying for top spot at Silverstone. Will Hamilton maintain his home track dominance? Or can the new gen achieve legendary status?'

Complaints were filed against the ad, claiming it held a strong appeal for under-18s.

Betway admitted that, while Hamilton may have appealed to this age group, his appearance in the ad was minimal, making the appeal minimal. Moreover, while the jacket read 'HAMILTON', the racer himself was not actually seen in the ad, with the video opting not to show his face, and instead only using a back-of-head shot.

The sportsbook also provided social media data to back up its claim, stating that of Hamilton's 39.7m Instagram followers, only 1.6 million were under-18. It also claimed the ad was primarily targeted at under-25s, with controlled settings designed to target the ad to this demographic.

The ASA concluded that the ad did in fact appeal to under-18s. In its assessment, it noted that the use of such figures may be acceptable under certain conditions, such as environments that cannot be accessed by young people, however given the circumstances young people may have been exposed, due to Facebook's age-verification practices.

Indeed, the Authority stated: "Given that evidence, we considered it was likely that there was at least a significant number of children who had not used their real date of birth when signing up to Facebook and were able to see and access content intended for those aged 18 or older, meaning they could view content from verified gambling accounts."

Conclusively, the ASA concluded that the ad was "irresponsible and breached the Code," and that it "must not appear again in its current form."