Gaming firm gets warning over ad

Jul 23 2008 by Alex Turner, Liverpool Daily Post

LITTLEWOODS Gaming has had its knuckles rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after using a cartoon image of Spiderman to promote a gambling website.

The company, part of Walton-based pools and gaming group Sportech, saw a complaint upheld by the ASA, which decided the internet banner ad breached the Committee of Adverti-sing Practice code.

Littlewoods Gaming had claimed it had been using similar images for three years before ASA’s complaint.

The authority said: “The code stated that marketing communica-tions should not be likely to be of particular appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture.

“We acknowledged Spiderman appealed to some adults but consi-dered the depiction of the popular comic book character was likely to have particular appeal to children and young people.”

Littlewoods Gaming and their partner Future Publishing were told to ensure they did not use images likely to appeal to children in future advertisements.