Moral compass is irrelevant, argues Sportsbet as Ben Johnson ‘putting roid in Android’ ad is banned
Sportsbet’s ad featuring drug cheat runner Ben Johnson has been banned by the Advertising Standards Board after the watchdog was bombarded by complaints from the public and sporting authorities.
The move came despite Sportsbet arguing that applying a “moral compass” to the ad was “plainly irrelevant”.
Johnson: fronted the Sportsbet ad
The ad for Sportsbet’s new Android betting app featured the message “putting the ‘roid in Android” and centred on sprinter Ben Johnson who was stripped of his Olympic gold medal in 1988 for doping. He later admitted he used steroids to break the 100m world record in 1987.
I’m so relieved my kids didn’t see this ad and conclude that doping is cool. Thanks, ASB. That was a close shave.
Hey Sportsbet, don’t you know you’re advertising to Australia and it’s 2017? We don’t have a sense of humour anymore and we are personally offended by the slightest things…
ASB and ASADA – what a joke.
I like the ad. But I agree with the decision. Youngsters are subtly vulnerable to principle erosion. As older people, our views were solidified a decade or so ago. Teenagers are having their views baked in now.
One drop of water doesn’t make an ocean, but we need to be vigilant to defend against setting cascading precedents for what is acceptable.
parasites
You’re kidding, right? PC Principal strikes again… This country is going down the toilet…
So lemme get this straight, it sends a bad message to kids if you normalise doping, but normalising gambling is okay? Yeah that makes total sense.
Nanny State 1 Australia 0
The decision to ban the ad is useless at this point, the job is done. The best campaign in Aus in many a year. Probably up their with the ARL’s Tina Turna – Simply the Best…. or even the iconic ‘give that man a new’.
So happy my kids aren’t going to fall for steroid abuse. They have enough on their plates with the punting and downing a XXXX while they watch the ads during the footy. And no ‘roid phones for them either… they can download their betting apps on an iPhone.
What a dumb decision. It was no doubt aired during shows depicting violence, sex, greed, profiteering at others expense, etc. Lucky the moral crusaders have made the ad break a bit safer by taking a humorous ad poking fun at drug cheats off the air though…
This is the classic line taken by the betting companies – that adults can make a reasonable judgement on the contents and the product and understand the apparent humour or parody.
Problem is – their ads are seen by children so frequently that there is no consideration taken for how they will interpret them.That’s the greater issue here and one they could all think a bit more about.
Great work, obviously anticipated the outcome too.
I think this is sad picture of the state we live in. There is reducing place for humour and satire because minority groups have too much impact.
We take ourselves to seriously and people who govern the country spend too much time on this type of thing because they can win public opinion to “be liked” to win votes.
Well Australia time to make your vote count for politicians who care about the real things that affect our lives, hospitals, education, infrastructure etc. It doesn’t matter if you “like” them. Its not a
social media post that goes away in an hour. They’re governing our country and affecting our future. Wake up to what this is about.
Please let’s get real and stop being the marshmallow country.
What a terrible decision. The role of advertising is to get noticed and be memorable. This does that. In fact I think it does it beautifully.
Just because someone is offended doesn’t mean they’re right.
Fucking ridiculous.
‘wont somebody think of the children!’
Seriously this was a great ad, I thought it was really funny. It’s obviously tongue in cheek. Sport isn’t some sacred institution, and nowhere is this condoning doping or saying it’s cool to do drugs in sport. It’s BS this got banned and obviously some senior intervention.
Brilliant campaign. Brilliant targeting. Brilliant idea. This is a complete farce.
You people who talk about youngsters obviously don’t have kids or are crap parents.
I’m not sure what this ban is protecting anyone from.
I applaud what must be a gutsy client and agency. More power to you.
Just plain wrong.
The ad is funny. But paying a cheat specifically to promote the fact he cheated, and linking a gambling site to sports cheats… just a step too far, regardless of how good the creative.
I know you like to grumble about everything being PC or everyone being offended – but remember those are two conflicting thoughts.
Also this. It was probably designed to get banned for publicity.
Or at the very least knowing it would cross a line of PR publicity.
Good work by the agency in that regard.
More creativity stifled in this pipsqueak little market struggling for anything half good. But, yay, a great win for the politically correct.
Ha. 100% agree. Gambling advertising is a scourge we will look back on and shake our heads that the Government allowed it to happen.
Sportsbet missed using our Olympic Dressage representative AND the governing body EA, who both proceeded to have her ride for Australia at the Rio Olympics – even though the combination should have been withdrawn due to positive drug test at a qualifying event one month before!
“tenure” was a spelling mistake – it should have been “tenor” not “tenet” as claimed
It was.
Another sign that advertising is dead in this country.
Let’s just stick to product/price or product demo advertising so no one if offended.
Shit idea.
Shit ad.
Shit product.
The backdrop to this conversation is gambling advertising is just plain wrong. We need to get rid of ALL gambling advertising on TV. It’s no different to smoking.
If you think Gambling Adverts are OK then you moral compass is already broken.
Fun Police strike again
I signed up for a Sports Bet account just in spite of the ASB.
I also shared this video with all of my friends to maximise its reach.
+1 SportsBet for a good funny ad.
-1 To the over regulating destroyers of free thinking
I wish Ben Johnson had been in the four by four relay and the baton was a piece of coal and he passed the coal to other cheats. Perhaps other sports doping cheats, or how about tax cheats, bribed politicians, ‘dodgy’ media owners; could have been much more creative and realistic.