Casino Rama Ad Comes Under Fire
A new TV ad which calls for players to visit the Ontario Gaming and Lottery Corp's Casino Rama, has come under fire from some sectors of Canada's media.
The OLG has been accused of glamorizing gambling by encouraging people to ignore the mundane aspects of their lives and, instead, head to Casino Rama for a more exciting time.
The Star columnist, Martin Regg Cohn called the 30 second ad a "brazenly predatory invitation to gamble, driven by an insidious storyline that crosses the line."
The ad begins in a comfortable family home, showing three adults engrossed in conversation and socializing. However, one of the men looks decidedly bored and distracted and the voiceover by the narrator asks sarcastically if he is "really going to spend your afternoon listening to Linda, or Lindsay?"
The narrator urges the protagonist to quit the party. "Adios, Lindsay!" he says.
The shot is then panned on a casino floor, set to toe-tapping music, showing happy, entertained and successful people as they enjoy Casino Rama.,
The voiceover ends the ad with: "Thaaaaat's more like it!"
OLG's Messages Questioned
The author of the piece in The Star writes: "Forgive my sensitivity, but after hearing Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty pay endless homage to the importance of family, egged on by Tory Leader Tim Hudak and echoed by NDP's Andrea Horwath, it's a big jolting to see the OLG broadcasting the opposite messages of escapism and disengagement."
Cohn criticized the messages that he thinks were put across in the ad: "Friends and family can bore you to death, while gambling enlivens you. Conversation is draining, but casinos are enriching. Don't engage with people, just daydream about blackjack."
OLG Defends Casino Rama Ad
The Ontario Gaming and Lottery Corp said that the Casino Rama ad under fire had been approved by a special committee which oversees the group's promotional plans for all its casinos.
"OLG reviews the creative to make sure that these marketing teams meet all policies and standards," the group said through its spokesman this week.
But Cohn, for his part, is not convinced. "Preying on the impulses of problem gamblers - by celebrating their escapism - cheapens us all," he wrote. "And transforms a profitable business model into a perverse one."
"Under pressure to make even more money, the government wants to transfer all its casinos to private operators," he wrote. "But before even contemplating any handover, the OLG needs to get a grip on its gambling ads - or it will lose even more credibility."
"Here's how the OLG can start cutting its losses," Cohn advises. "Pull this predatory ad from the airwaves and stop glamorizing gambling."
