UK ad watchdog finds no fault with emoji-packed Mecca Bingo ad
The ASA has ruled that the use of emojis does not give an advert appeal to minors.
UK.- The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has rejected a complaint against a social media advert from Rank’s Mecca Bingo brand. A complaint had argued that the ad would appeal to minors because of its use of emojis.
A Facebook post seen on the Mecca Bingo (Luton) page in May 2025 stated, “Name the Tom Hanks Films” and featured 10 films, alphabetically labelled A. to J with emoji’s that had to be deciphered to name the relevant film. The post included emojis of a teddy bear, child’s face, mermaid, rocket and an aeroplane.
The complainant challenged whether the ad was irresponsible because the use of these emojis was likely to appeal strongly to people under 18 years of age.
Mecca Bingo said that the ad was a social media post created by an external agency in 2022. It said that since that time it had issued updated internal guidance around the use of emojis and a number of social media ambassadors, trained on the guidance, had been created to serve specific regions of venues. In 2024 a full review of its social media library had been undertaken but the particular post was not identified for removal.
They explained the post was likely seen by active followers of the Mecca Bingo (Luton) account, where followers would have to self-declare as over 18. They provided demographic data from Meta for the account, showing the audience was predominantly over 25 years of age with only 2.9 per cent of followers in the 18 to 24 age bracket.
They said regarding the specific post they did not believe the emojis, or the wider content of the post, had strong appeal to children or young people. They added that they did not believe Tom Hanks, or the vast majority of his films, had strong appeal to, or association with, youth culture either. The post was also organic, not paid for, and it did not advertise a specific event or promotion. It was primarily intended as a means of customer engagement.
They stated that while they did not believe the post breached the Code, because the liberal use of emojis no longer aligned with their marketing strategy, they had permanently deleted the post and it would not be used in the future. They had also reissued guidance on emojis in marketing communications across their business and were conducting a wider review of their social media library to ensure continued compliance.
The ASA noted that the CAP Code states that gambling ads must not be likely to be of strong appeal to people under 18, especially by reflecting youth culture. However, it observed the ad in question used text in a simple white font and that the emojis that might represent objects associated with children’s interests were no more prominent than others, which included the Italian flag, an SOS sign and a briefcase. There were 32 emojis in total, with the vast majority showing everyday objects or symbols.
As a result, the ASA considered that, in the context of a puzzle game requiring people to name a broad spectrum of films, the range and use of emojis were unlikely to have strong appeal to children or young people by reflecting or being associated with youth culture. It also noted that the ad did not include an image of Tom Hanks.
The verdict comes just a few days after ASA cleared rival brand Buzz Bingo over an ad that made use of another social media trend. Buzz had jumped on the the trend of using AI-generated images of action figures. The watchdog decided that despite the image showing a children’s toy, it was unlikely to appeal to minors.
