A digital campaign and two ads have been launched in New Zealand, seeking to highlight gambling-related harm.
The campaign has dispensed with the usual courtesies of framing gambling as a fun pastime that needs to be approached carefully and replaced them with an outright statement of the potential financial and emotional toll the activity carries.
Gambling is not meant to be "harmless fun"
Two ads have been introduced to reflect this: "Their House Always Wins" and "The Game Is Rigged, Don’t Get Played," which directly assail the idea that gambling is meant to be fun, and purport, instead, that the activity is meant to get people addicted and inclined to spend more.
A new digital platform called Pātea has also been introduced, offering players a chance to "pause and reflect." The platform was designed with extensive input from people with lived experience and who have found themselves suffering from gambling-related harms in New Zealand.
The country loses more than NZ$2.6bn annually, with Māori and Pasifika, two specific populations, continuing to be disproportionately affected by gambling-related harms and levels of addiction.
General Manager of Hāpai Te Hauora, Jessikha Makoare, said that the campaign arrived at an important time for New Zealand, with the country preparing to introduce up to 15 online casino licenses, which will only compound existing issues, according to her.
Hence, she argues, there is a need to highlight the undeniable harms and dangers that accompany gambling: "The new normal we need to see is a collective understanding that gambling is harmful - and that the industry is operating exactly as it was intended to."
The latest campaign is created by Mahitahi Agency with support from Hāpai Te Hauora, Te Rangihaeata Oranga Trust, and Poutiri Charitable Trust.
Hāpai Te Hauora CEO Jason Alexander has reaffirmed the words of his colleagues, arguing that the campaign sought to unambiguously highlight the potential dangers stemming from gambling.
