A television advert that claimed ‘You’ve a very good chance of winning’ the Health Lottery has been banned by the advertising watchdog.
The Advertising Standards Agency said the advert implied viewers were more likely to win a prize than nothing.
The ad first appeared on screens in February and featured a man who had won a prize saying: “I would encourage anyone to go out and buy a Health Lottery ticket. You’ve a very good chance of winning.”
The Health Lottery said the comment was subjective and, though a “win was just a luck of the draw”, its prize structure backed up the claim.
It said the fact one in 108 players won a prize in any one of its five weekly lottery draws meant there was a “very good chance” of winning.
The ASA received complaints from 12 viewers objecting that the claim was misleading and exaggerated the chances of winning the Health Lottery.
The advert had been cleared by Clearcast, a company that approves ads for commercial broadcasters.
It said that nowhere in the ad was there a claim or implication that people who played the Health Lottery would definitely win a prize.
The ASA ruling said: “The ASA understood that the man in the ad who had stated, ‘You’ve a very good chance of winning [the Health Lottery]’ was a testimonial based on his own experience of having won a prize. We considered that such a claim was likely to be interpreted as factual and to mean that consumers were more likely to win a prize from the Health Lottery than not winning anything.
“However, because the claim was not supported with documentary evidence, we considered that it exaggerated the chances of winning the Health Lottery and concluded it was likely to mislead viewers.”
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