4 Lottery Ads That Landed Big Lotteries in Trouble

A big part of a lottery operation falls onto the shoulders of the marketing department. Advertising is key for the reach out of the operator. In all honesty, if there weren’t any creative ads the number of lottery players that are currently active would be in the best case halved. People with abundant portfolios of creative ads are working with full steam to come up with something that will catch the attention of potential and existing lottery players.

On occasions, these “creative geniuses” can go to the extremes. Instead of attracting new players and increasing their customer base, events take a totally different path. Over the past two decades, there have been a couple of ads that landed these lotteries in trouble.

Some of these are hilarious, others are insulting. The distinction between a madman and a genius is difficult to make. I’ll let you be the judge of which ones are hilarious and which ones deserve to be removed. The bottom line is that all of the below listed lotteries ended up in trouble because of the ads.

My Personal Favorite – UK’s National Lottery in Trouble Because of a Cat Ad

I like cats. People on the Internet like cats as well. There’s something about these obnoxious little creatures that the public just loves. It’s no wonder that someone in the marketing department of the National Lottery got the idea to put a cat in an ad. However, there’s a “but”. They used cats totally wrong. I like cats that trip over, that fall down, etc. The ad tells a story how a woman lost her cat. She’d put leaflets on a tree, like wanted posters, or missing posters. There’s more. The slogan or the tag line of the ad is that you have higher chances of winning the lottery than to find your missing cat. There’s some truth to some extent in this saying, but putting it in an ad? So wrong!

The public was appalled by this ad stunt that ended badly for the National Lottery. To make things even more intriguing, the ad shows an area near London, where more than 50 cats have been reported missing. So many wrong variables put in one place.

Nobody wants to have their pet run away, let alone to never find it. This ad was totally off target.

Oregon Lottery Underfire Because of an Ad With Voice of Deceased Governor

I mean, come on! The local public was stunned once the ad was released. The thing is, the former governor Tom McCall did a lot for the local community. He made some radical changes that turned the community to a much better place. The Oregon State Lottery includes a segment where Mr. McCall’s voice can be heard. Who gave them the right to include his voice in the ad? According to the local public, Tom wasn’t that kind of a person that would endorse a lottery that has acted in a shady way. The lottery operator was under severe pressure, yet there’s no information if the ad has been completely removed. The ad was released in September 2016. For crying out loud, there are people who attend schools for public relation, marketing and what’s acceptable. I’m 100% positive that there’s a lesson that covers this particular case. Apparently, someone didn’t do its homework. I can swallow the story, the ad about the missing cat, but this? This, I must admit, must be removed.

There are some things that don’t deserve to be questioned. One of which is the removal of this lottery ad.

Florida Lottery – Target of Rough Comments Because of Ads Positioning

Now, I’m a strong advocate of responsible lottery playing. In other words, not anyone can be a lottery player. Lottery is a hobby that takes resources, both time and money. Some people have the latter, but do not have enough disposable income. The Florida Lottery has been a target of severe comments because of where they’ve positioned their huge billboards. It’s no secret that gambling and sports betting flourished in poor areas, but the lottery has always stood out of these two categories. However, the Florida Lottery marketing team positioned billboards advertising itself in a rather poor area. Sure, there’s nothing wrong from a business perspective, but it is very wrong from an ethics point of view.

I recommend the lottery to everyone who can afford it. It can be addicting as it promises huge prizes. Yes, everyone can win, but it might take you some time and a decent budget before you get to the promised lottery prizes.

Not So Big Lottery Ends Up in Big Trouble

So far I’ve shown you 3 totally different cases when lottery ended up on the bitter end because of their ads. The following on may not include a big lottery, yet it’s wrong on so many levels.

The loser here is the North Caroline Education Lottery. There’s nothing wrong with advertising, but only if you do it right. The NCEL made a grave mistake with one of their ads for one of their new games called All or Nothing. The ad shows people playing dart games, but they miss, and they miss, and they miss. Throughout the whole ad, everybody misses.

According to the game’s rules, players win if they guess all the numbers that show up, or if they miss all of them. That’s the idea they wanted to show in the ad. However, the public, along with the officials took it as sarcastic and humiliating. In my opinion, I would feel humiliated if I used to play this game and saw an ad of this kind. Somebody didn’t do its job properly. After a brief period, the ad was removed.

They say, there’s no bad publicity since it attracts attention. To some extent, this is true. But when it comes to the lottery I tend to disagree.