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Comment by alexb_ | Hacker News Reader

If you ever watch sporting events from the 80s, you see Marlboro advertisements everywhere. Cigarette companies advertised in every single sport all the time in a gigantic marketing blitz - I think in the future we will see gambling ads now in the same way.

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Marlboro continued to advertize in F1 even after a ban on tobacco advertizing, with that subliminal barcode logo. Which makes me think that we might see similar circumvention attempts should gambling advertizing be banned.

Tobacco, in the form of Phillip Morris, is still actively advertising in the sport, albeit rather more indirectly now.

Ferrari counts among its sponsors a brand called Mission Winnow, which had prominent billboard space on the car through 2021.

Their website is a real treat: https://www.missionwinnow.com/

> Mission Winnow is a change lab focused on reframing global conversations, sparking open debate, connecting people and supporting the realization of innovative ideas.

This one specifically always gets a chuckle out of me: https://www.missionwinnow.com/en/pmi/pragmatic-approaches/co...

For a while PMI wasn't even mentioned until you dug a few pages in. And then, still only ever "PMI" until a few layers further. Some countries like France were aware enough to ban the advertising for races hosted within their jurisdiction.

To this day I don't believe we banned and mauled tobacco industry unanimously. Looking back from 1930s up to 2000s their ads were EVERYWHERE. Outdoors, events, magazines, sports, all genres of movies and TV series. It was a monstrous lobby.

The tobacco industry created a lot of modern advertising, especially a lot of the things we hate.

"Knowing Better - Torches of Freedom"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMOyNgLSX2g&t

Well worth watching this video (and many more on this channel).

Cigarette brands ought to be forcibly renamed so they can't extract value from ads in historical media, from the time before the advertising ban.

While I'm in favour of remakes that update old works for modern audiences, I disagree with "forcibly" doing so.

The actual fix to the problem of tobacco corporations profiting from free advertising is to end those tobacco corporations.

I recall a game theory argument that the tobacco advertising ban was overall a boon for tobacco companies, since most of the effect of advertising was poaching other brands' customers rather than getting non-smokers to pick up the habit.

A ban on gambling ads might ironically similarly be in the interests of gambling companies.

no need to wait for the future. If you watch the news of the local variety at least in my area, most of the advertisements are for betting. Same with sports.

I've occasionally been in a pub when there's been sky sports showing a football match

Now, remember to watch sky sports you have to pay something like £50 a month.

They then saturate half the program with adverts of people gambling.

When I was a kid in the 80s and 90s, gambling was something James Bond did at Monte-Carlo with a vodka martini, or something my grandad did with the horses in a seedy shop next to the chippie. The only thing about gambling most people saw was some "pools" thing that was mentioned after the football results.

Now people spend £600 a year to be bombarded by messages telling them it's normal to get your phone out and put £10 on who will score the next goal when watching a football game. Maybe it is normal now, but it didn't used to be 20 years ago.

They sponsor team strips, and then those players get done for dodgy gambling deals, but don’t mention the advertising… it’s almost like there’s some disconnect…

Sky (etc) cost considerably more than that for the pub, around £1000-2000/month depending on the size of the pub and the wealth of the area.

In the 1990s I remember there were slot machines in some pubs, where men would put in £1 or so and very occasionally win a huge pile of 10p coins.

Sure, and sky still saturate the viewer with adverts

Last time I checked the Annual Report, sky's revenue was something like 90% subscription, 10% adverts.

I had a mild giggle to myself when I read the playstore app rules after they updated something unrelated and sent an email out.

Ireland and the UK have an exception to the rule banning gambling apps, and their in-app payments. So you could gamble with money from your phone bill/prepay credit. I'd be interested to learn the history of that.

The future they mention is when you look at the old footage and get the same feeling you get when watching old videos of people annoyed that they won't be allowed to drive drunk or have to wear seatbelts, and think "how could they ever think that was normal?"

At the moment, those gambling ads are pervasive and, sadly, "normal".

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