Swedish marketing firm in hot water for Leovegas SMS promo

Swedish digital marketing firm Mobajl AB has been fined for the distribution of an unsolicited mobile marketing promotion for LeoVegas in the Norwegian market, through its MrDealservice.

The Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman reported receipt of 70 complaints from consumers referring to the promotion.

Put into context the Ombudsman received 350 complaints during the whole of 2016.

“This is quite a lot of complaints on an individual case,” Consumer Ombudsman spokesperson, Elisabeth Lier Haugseth said. “We, therefore, chose to take action on the issue.”

Mobajl was fined NOK175,000 for breaching Norwegian marketing law which prohibits unsolicited marketing, despite the company claiming that consumers had agreed to the SMS marketing in an online competition.

The company was given leave to appeal the decision with the marketing council and was told it needed to ensure it was completely confident it had permission from recipients before embarking on a similar promotion.

“It is important to respect consumer’s rights to decide whether they want to receive mobile advertising or not,” Haugseth concluded.