Anthony Joshua: Betfred's fighter tweets broke gambling rules, says ASA
1 November 2023
ByRiyah Collins
BBC Newsbeat
Three tweets by Betfred featuring Anthony Joshua have actually been prohibited for breaching gambling marketing guidelines.
the yohaig code Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) examined the posts shared in March and April promoting a battle.
It said Joshua was likely to strongly interest under-18s - which is forbidden by brand-new gambling advertisement guidelines.
Betfred, which declined claims Joshua interested kids, called the choice "unfair" and stated it would require an independent evaluation.
Last year the ASA, which regulates marketing in the UK on TV, radio and online, upgraded its rules for promoting gambling., external
The brand-new guidelines mention that companies can not attract under-18s "by reflecting or being related to youth culture".
Betfred's tweets included videos of Joshua discussing his diet plan, his preparation regular and his pre-fight mentality before his bout with Jermaine Franklin.
The company had argued boxing is an "adult-orientated sport" due to the fact that its late-night matches are mainly streamed pay-per-view and can just be bought by over-18s.
It also stated the 3 tweets weren't advertising however were "editorial" in nature.
The bookmakers did admit Joshua is hugely popular throughout social networks, with 29.3 m followers worldwide, but argued they were "extremely adult".
However, the ASA found about a countless Joshua's 15.7 m Instagram fans were registered as under-18, as well as 82,000 of his fans on Snapchat.
The guard dog found this promotion code to be "a significant number" implying Joshua was "of inherent strong appeal" to a young audience.
It informed Betfred the ads "need to not appear once again in their present type" and alerted it not to use figures who attract youths in future.
A Betfred representative said the business firmly believed posting the 3 interviews with Joshua "in no chance weakened" its commitment to preventing strong youth appeal in its marketing.
"It needs to likewise be born in mind that the ASA did not get a single grievance from a member of the public about our association with Anthony Joshua in this promotion code regard," he added.
Sky Bet recently had a tweet featuring Gary Neville banned for breaching the same rules.
Although Neville's footballing profession ended in 2011, the yohaig code ASA discovered he too was most likely to have a strong appeal to under-18s - something Sky Bet disagreed with.
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Advertising Standards Authority
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