Soccer star Rio Ferdinand reprimanded by the ASA over PlayStation ad
Rio Ferdinand has been reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Agency for improperly disclosing a sponsored advert he made with PlayStation
The contentious partnership was a series of now-deleted tweets, one of which showed a video of the former England star turned soccer pundit speaking about the upcoming Champions League final.
"Here's who I think will be taking home the [trophy]," the tweet said. "Class Day down at #PlayStationHouse ahead of the #UCLFinalv … @PlayStation #PlayStationPartner."
According to the ASA, the hashtag "#PlayStationPartner" wasn't sufficient and Ferdinand should have also included "#ad".
Sony claims its team told Ferdinand to include "#ad", but Ferdinand's representatives dispute this, claiming they were told to only use "#PlayStationPartner".
Elsewhere, Sony argued that the branding on the videos and the format in which they took place - a gamer interviewing the soccer pundit - were also indicators that it was sponsored content.
The ASA says there was no "clear acknowledgment of the commercial relationship between Mr. Ferdinand and Sony".
"[W]e concluded that they should have been clearly labeled as ads, and we therefore concluded that they breached the Code."
The ads were taken down and can not be reused. In the future, all partnerships must contain the correct hashtags.
Check out our list of the best sports games for more.
Thanks, Eurogamer.
