Columnist Jeff German: Classless advertising gets the OK

Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

Bobby Siller says he and his colleagues on the Gaming Control Board have no intention of turning into morality police every time a casino pushes the limits of decency when advertising.

"The board under no circumstances is trying to be the moral conscience of Las Vegas and Nevada," he says.

That's a smart move considering Las Vegas tourism officials are spending millions of dollars on a national marketing campaign that encourages visitors to come to Las Vegas and live out their vices.

Under these conditions, if Siller and his fellow board members wanted to be cops carrying purity meters they'd be writing tickets for acts of sin on the Strip 24-7 and would have no time to regulate the rest of the gaming industry.

So don't get too excited yet, Pat Robertson.

Gaming regulators, however, do have authority under state law to enforce morality in advertising, as they did last week with a complaint against the Hard Rock, which caters to celebrities and the 20-something party crowd.

And though they're not interested in leading a charge to clean up Las Vegas, regulators seem to want to further the debate over the merits of promoting the city's dark side -- and also give city and county leaders something to think about.

Siller says the content of several racy Hard Rock ads wasn't the biggest factor in the board's decision to take action against the casino. What irked board members the most was the fact that the Hard Rock had broken a 2002 promise to let in-house compliance officers screen the ads before they were published to make sure the ads were in good taste.

But Siller also acknowledges that he didn't appreciate what was said in some of the ads, which appeared in weekly newspapers and on billboards welcoming visitors to town.

One ad shows a scantily clad man and a woman, both good looking of course, on a gaming table surrounded by cards and chips. The woman has a card in her mouth, and the caption of the ad reads: "There's always temptation to cheat."

That may be amusing but, as Siller puts it, cheating isn't something the casino industry should be encouraging.

Another ad promoting Monday Night Football simply says: "At the Hard Rock we believe in your Monday night rights: large quantities of prescription stimulants, having wives in two states ... Tell your wives you are going; if they are hot, bring them along."

Call it a hunch, but I don't think Siller and company like the idea of promoting bigamy and drug abuse on the Strip.

Did the Hard Rock get too clever in its zeal to attract business?

Probably.

Can we blame the casino for going overboard when the city as a whole markets itself as a hotbed for sin?

Probably not.

If you think Siller doesn't approve of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority campaign that embraces the slogan, "what happens here, stays here," you would be wrong.

He likes it.

"I think it's a great thing," he says. "It's exactly where we should be. We're an adult entertainment center."

But Siller cautions: "We have to find a balance. We have to be responsible and have some sense of class in how we advertise."

Then again, if "what happens here, stays here," why should we worry about having any sense of class?