GambleAware Launches Historical Gambling Harm Campaign for Women

Independent charity aimed at preventing and treating gambling harms GambleAware has launched the “Losing track of the world around you,” a historical campaign aimed at women gamblers. The movement results from the hard work and creativity of a team of experts from record agency M&C Saatchi, along with Freud’s PR specialists and Goodstuff’s media planning crew. The ad will run on various TV, digital, social, and broadcaster video on demand channels until March.

The Campaign Comes at the Right Time

The GambleAware ad was released in the context of new reports showing that the activity on gaming platforms centered around female players increases considerably during the cold season, reaching the highest level between December and March. Recent data speaks about the total traffic on these gambling websites primarily focused on women going up by 29% during these months compared to the rest of the year. Last September, GambleAware also unveiled its plans to invest $3.4 million to expand gambling education hubs in England and Wales.

MindsEye’s Thomas Ormonde directed the ad, and it paints the image of a family gathered around the TV set while the mother is seen obliviously gambling on her smartphone, completely ignoring what is going on around her. When her spouse and children start performing all sorts of bizarre, circus-like moves in the middle of the living room, right beneath her very eyes, the woman continues to remain completely oblivious as she is too lost in the gambling action on her phone to notice anything.

The same powerful campaign also features a four-minute video with ex-CBBC and British radio presenter Angellica Bell interviewing health and gambling specialists to emphasize the type of support available for problem gamblers. Bell is also seen speaking to a woman reminiscing her problem gambling experience after she had fallen victim to gambling harm.

GambleAware Trying to Eliminate the Stigma Surrounding Female Gamblers

Further supporting the campaign and its goal to empower more gambling women to ask for the help they may need, GambleAware’s chief communications officer Alexia Clifford mentioned the stigma surrounding female gamblers. She said that shame would often prevent many women from seeking help when dealing with gambling harms. Clifford added that the new campaign would encourage ladies who like to gamble to be proactive, seek potential and early signs of problem gambling, and advise them to visit the official GambleAware website, where they would receive free tips and support for keeping their gambling habits under control.

Another important aspect of the campaign is the need to use the right tone that would best engage female gamblers who may have a more challenging time recognizing that their gambling may be problematic. Executive creative director for M&C Saatchi Matt Lee acknowledged the challenge of finding the right tone for the campaign without engaging any tactics that may scare off viewers while creating an ad that would truly stand out.

The head of Freuds Health and Behaviour Change, Julia Bainbridge, said: “Gambling harms carry significant and complex consequences, which are often experienced predominantly in isolation by too many women across the country.

The campaign has been programmed to go live starting January 31 and it will primarily target approximately one million women across the UK who are at risk of suffering from gambling harm. Last year, GambleAware created a similar campaign aimed at young men at high risk of gambling harms that managed to engage 74% of the targeted group.