Gemma Collins Stars in Spoof Ad for Responsible Gambling
As Responsible Gambling Week comes to a close, operators are taking it upon themselves to continue to spread the word of safer gambling in amusing and innovative ways.
PlayOJO, long time advocates of fairer online gambling, have teamed up with Breakeven, a gambling counselling service affiliated with GamCare, to produce a content series highlighting the dangers of problem gambling, including a parody fragrance advertisement.
The short black and white film, which is both and hilarious and poignant, features Gemma Collins, the star of The Only Way is Essex and Dancing on Ice.
The first half of the spoof advertisement has Collins in glamorous positions with a thumping, icy dance beat punctuating the sleek video as she utters, “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, Just one more.” She then unveils the made-up perfume “Compulsion.”
The video then segues into a Collins giving a serious message about the hidden nature of a problem gambler. Then, cleverly intertwining, the spoof advertising message and the actual message of the video, Collins unveils the acronym; S.M.E.L.L. She highlights that you cannot smell a gambling addiction, but that these are the signs that you should be looking out for in a loved on who might have a problem:
- S = Sleep – Are they sleeping less than usual?
- M = Money – Are they struggling financially?
- E = Extreme Emotions – Are they experiencing extreme mood swings?
- L = Losing Interest – Are they showing less interest in normal activities?
- L = Lying – Are they becoming secretive?
On being invited to work on the SMELL project, Collins said:
“I am working with PlayOJO and Breakeven to raise awareness of the often-hidden issue of problem gambling. I’ve been around addicts in my life and drug addictions and alcoholism can be pretty easy to spot. Problem gambling often hides in plain sight, and we need to raise awareness of the early warning signs so that we can ensure people that are struggling, get the help they need, before it becomes a problem.”
At WDW, we commend that operators are doing more by taking the Safer Gambling Week message and putting their own unique spin on it.
For more information, please visit our Responsible Gambling page.