Using Biometrics to Determine the Appeal of Gambling Adverts to Children and Young Persons.

This research informs proposed changes to the key regulatory code for protecting children and young people from harm related to gambling advertising. The Committee of Advertising Practise´s (CAP) Code 16.3.12 states that “Gambling marketing communications must not be (…) of particular appeal to children and young persons.” However, recent research using self-report measures on more than 650 participants, found that a range of formats of Twitter gambling advertising are significantly and substantially more appealing to children and young persons than to adults. In other words, gambling adverts were found to be “of particular appeal to children and young people”. This paper will report what happens when the same research is conducted using a different method of measuring appeal.