Celebrity Endorsements of Online Bingo Sites

Old faces and new fans

As an online bingo fan, you’re bound to have seen countless celebrities appearing on TV and magazine adverts, as well as online, promoting well-known bingo brands. What players think about them however, and how they react to them, differs from person to person. The marketing companies behind the faces want viewers to perceive a product that is advertised by a well-known, or trusted celeb, in order to lend credibility to the brand and make you want to buy it, or at least give you more reason to look at the product. However, some viewers would say that a famous face doesn’t affect how or where they spend their money and, in some cases (depending on who’s featured) could actually put them off altogether.

Which household names have promoted online bingo?

Today, we take a look at how various brands have used A-list, and even Z-list faces, as part of their advertising campaigns:

Foxy faces

First up, is everyone’s favourite ex-glamour model, Katie Price, a.k.a. Jordan. Whilst to some she might be the woman we love to hate, you can’t deny that she’s established her own successful line of products, and is a savvy business-woman and aspiring author, as well as mother to three children, proving that females really can have it all. For a while, Katie was the face of Foxy Bingo in 2006, adding a lashing of sex appeal to what some might be seen by some to be an unglamorous and solitary game. Stacey Solomon followed shortly after, winning Foxy’s Celebrity Mum of the Year award, which was swiftly withdrawn following the publication of photographs showing her smoking a cigarette whilst seven months pregnant. These days, Foxy seems to have taken a shine to the girls from TV’s TOWIE (The Only Way is Essex), and has launched ad campaigns in conjunction with Lauren Goodger to promote Foxy’s own brand of perfume, and more recently with Lucy Mecklenburgh for a self-tanning product called ‘Fur Real.’

Peggy Mitchell joins Jackpotjoy

In 2010, ex-Eastenders actress, Barbara Windsor, was hired by Jackpotjoy to play the role of the Queen of Bingo. Babs has now got many an advertising campaign behind her, appearing on the site as well as in TV ads, and has even been known to ring up unsuspecting members to offer them free bonus cash prizes if they answer their phone with the correct catchphrase.

Mysterious Gala girl

This year, Gala Bingo recruited everyone’s favourite Aussie (bar the gorgeous Kylie, of course), Peter Andre, to become the face of their revamped website. Both members new and old were tempted with the prospect of meeting the man himself, and anyone who was left wondering what had happened to the old-look Gala was able to watch a special video featuring Peter explaining what the changes were all about.

Brits Bingo gets in on the action

Welsh Rugby union star, and Charlotte Church’s ex, Gavin Henson, has been the face of Brits Bingo for some time now, despite several tussles with the law and being subsequently sacked by Cardiff Blues for unruly behaviour on an aeroplane. It makes you wonder whether Brits is an advocate of the “all publicity is good publicity” theory…

888Ladyboys

Back in 2008, 888Ladies revealed Vic Reeves as the front-man for their re-launched site. Whilst we’ve found no conclusive proof that the subsequent TV adverts caused a huge rise in new members, they were certainly memorable and entertaining, which is exactly what any advertising campaign aims to achieve. The themes mainly involved Vic getting dressed up in full make-up and women’s clothes in order to roll up and play at 888Ladies. Rather cleverly, the reference to the brand was always left until the last few seconds of the ads, keeping viewers guessing to the very end what exactly was being promoted.

Should I join a site because my favourite celebrity promotes it?

If you’re left wondering whether you should sign up to a site, just because one of your favourite stars promotes it, then here’s our two penneth worth:

On one hand, sites using celebrity endorsements can be trusted to a certain extent, mainly due to the fact that stars generally don’t want to get involved in promoting ‘dodgy’ products that may tarnish their reputation or career. On the other, by far the best way to choose a new online bingo site to play at, is by asking the opinion of friends, family and other players, checking the site is properly audited and licensed (either in the UK or on the approved UK white list), uses a recognised RNG (Random Number Generator), offers great customer service, and quick and easy ways to deposit and withdraw your funds.