Tony Cascarino’s tongue-in-cheek advertisement for an online gambling site has fallen foul of the advertising watchdog for omitting warnings about the financial dangers of a flutter.
One radio ad features the Italia ’90 hero with a voiceover telling listeners: “Don’t you just love it when things go your way?
“Jackpot! The days are getting longer. Jackpot! I’ve just found a fiver in my jacket. Jackpot! I’m still getting asked for selfies for playing in Italia 90.
“It’s a lucky time to be in Ireland and now you can try your luck on Ireland’s new online casino, TonyBet.com!”
However, a listener complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that the ad did not direct people to “a source of information about gambling and gambling responsibly”, so breached the advertising code.
Once the firm was made aware of the problem it quickly ditched the ad and said it was “not a deliberate action by the company but a mistake by an employee”.
Although the ASA committee considered that the ad had breached its code, it welcomed the fact that, once it was made aware of the error, the company withdrew it immediately.
The advertising code requires all gambling ads to include a message to encourage responsible gambling and to direct people to information about gambling, and gambling responsibly.
Tony Bet, which started in 2003, is not named after the 62-year-old former Celtic and Chelsea striker but the renowned Lithuanian poker player Antanas Guoga, known as Tony G.
The international gaming company had hired Cascarino for the ad.
Tony Cascarino and Tony Bet were contacted for comment.
Elsewhere, an ad featuring a woman with a strong Dublin accent running a “boot camp for burglars” was also investigated by the advertising watchdog for “accentism”.
The complainant said the accent of the “teacher” instructing a group on how best to burgle houses “equated a North Dublin/working class Dublin accent with criminality and perpetuated stereotypes against people with certain accents”.
The ASA said the accent was natural so the complaint was not upheld.
And a complaint was received against MJ Roofing on the grounds of decency.
The advertisement on the homepage of the firm’s website featured an image of a woman dressed in a shirt which was tied at the front to resemble a crop-top.
The complaint considered that the advertisement in question featured an image of a woman dressed in attire that was overtly sexualised.
The complaint was upheld, but in response the company said women were “free to dress as they liked in today’s society.”
It also said the roofing industry was filled with male employees and “they would submit that an image of a woman in this role suggested that women were welcome in the industry”.