Adverts on a gambling website for games called Fairytale Legends and Fairies Forest have been banned because of the likelihood that they would appeal to children.
The m88.com website promoted three games – Fairytale Legends Red Riding Hood, Fairytale Legends Hansel and Gretel, and Fairies Forest – in January. The games featuring animated images of a wolf, a pixie and a fairy in a forest.
The Campaign for Fairer Gambling complained that the content of the three ads was likely to be of particular appeal to children. ProgressPlay, trading as m88.com, responded to the complaint by making the games accessible only after members logged in to their account and modified them to remove all images of fairies and “any other unsuitable character”.
However, m88.com said the games were produced by a third-party software company and appeared on other websites run by different gambling operators.
Advertising rules state that gambling ads must not be likely to be of particular appeal to children or young people, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it welcomed the interim action taken by m88.com in response to the complaint.
The ASA noted that Fairytale Legends Red Riding Hood was based on the children’s fairytale Little Red Riding Hood and included an animated picture of a wolf and a fairy, and the Hansel and Gretel game featured a moonlit forest with gameplay stars and gambling coins.
Arthur Rackham illustration for Little Red Riding Hood. Photograph: Public Domain
