The advertising watchdog has criticised the way Nestlé, Channel 4 and Endemol ran a lottery for a member of the public to enter the Big Brother house – but ultimately found that the controversial “golden ticket” promotion was not fixed.
The Advertising Standards Authority investigated the lottery, in which 34 members of the public entered a draw to go on the reality show after finding golden tickets in KitKat bars, following 11 complaints that the draw was rigged in favour of winner Suzie Verrico.The housemates also got the impression that the arrival of Verrico was engineered.
The ASA investigated complaints questioning whether the draw was made in accordance with the laws of chance and if it had been made under the supervision of an independent observer.
Nestlé, Channel 4 and Endemol provided a combined response to the complaints.
The companies said that an independent observer from Electoral Reform Services had checked the number on each of the 34 balls before they were placed in the lottery machine.
They sent film footage of the Big Brother garden, and slow-motion footage of the draw, to show that witnesses were present and that no balls were tampered with.
However, the independent observer had not been allowed by the show’s makers to attend the draw – although a different observer watched on TV from home – as no outsiders are allowed to come into contact with the housemates.
The firms argued that this fulfilled the requirement of an independent observer monitoring the draw.
The ASA ruled that the footage and testimonials provided sufficient evidence that that the draw had been conducted in accordance with the laws of chance.
However, the watchdog ruled that the full draw was not conducted under the supervision of an independent observer and warned that future promotions must not break the regulatory code.
[source: mediaguardian.co.uk]
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