Prior to the anticipated Anthony Joshua and Jermaine Franklin fight in April, three videos featuring Joshua were tweeted by renowned bookmaker, Betfred. These videos, however, fell under an infringement of the Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) new rules on gambling advertising, resulting in their banning across the platform.
According to the ASA – the UK body responsible for regulating TV, radio, and online advertising – the inclusion of Joshua, who notably coins a robust appeal among those under 18 years, contravenes their recently revised guidelines. These state that any promotions for gambling should not resonate with youth culture.
Betfred’s contested tweets showcased Joshua revealing elements of his diet, his pre-fight training and his mental approach ahead of facing Franklin. In their defense, Betfred stressed boxing’s status as an “adult-orientated sport” given that most matches air late at night on pay-per-view platforms which restrict viewership to those over 18 years old. They also refuted the classification of these posts as advertisements, instead describing them as “editorial” content.
Notably, Betfred acknowledged the influence Joshua carries on social media with over 29 million global followers, but insisted that the majority of these followers were adults. The ASA, however, discovered that approximately a million of Joshua’s 15.7 million followers on Instagram were under 18, along with 82 thousand young snapchat users. They viewed these numbers as substantial evidence of Joshua’s influential appeal to a younger demographic. Consequently, Betfred was warned against further use of popular figures who are likely to attract underage attention and instructed to halt any further hosting of the contested ads.
Despite the reprimand, Betfred has remained optimistic, expressing their belief that their collaboration with Joshua was not at odds with the commitment to prevent strong youth appeal in their marketing strategy. Their spokesperson also pointed out that there was not a single public complaint regarding their association with Joshua.
In a similar vein, Neville’s football career, which drew to a close in 2011, was deemed by the ASA to have considerable appeal to those under 18, a judgement that was contested by Sky Bet.
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