Gambling ads tell people over and over that they may well lose. The rational parts of gamblers’ brains override the message. Gambling is emotional. And creative director, Neil Walshe, has found a way to tap into that, in his passion project to curb Australia’s massive problem with poker machines. Aussies lose AU$12 bn year on them.
The campaign is built on a striking piece of knowledge. Power machines don’t have losing sounds. They have emotionally uplifting winning sounds, but nothing to reach the emotional brain when you lose.
Walsh collaborated with Rumble Studios and Milos Photography to create a project, The Losing Sound (losingsound.com), built around experiment that shows the power of that omission. Their poker machine includes a losing sound based on human psychology. A descending minor key heightens unease in people. They tested their poker machine on real players who didn’t know what had changed. In their small-scale test, loss awareness increased and the urge to keep playing halved.
The campaign was launched in partnership with two addiction recovery specialists, Ron Isherwood from The Truth About Addiction and Kerrie Atherton from Stories of Hope Australia. And it suggests that losing sounds should be enforced in poker machines everywhere.
It includes a petition to make that happen.
Neil Walshe stated, “Gambling addiction destroys families and lives. If this project helps players become more aware, that’s a win. If it helps Canberra become more aware, that’s a jackpot.”
Credits
Project by: Neil Walshe
Project for: The Truth About Addiction & Stories of Hope Australia
Losing SFX by: Jeremy Richmond
Directed by: Milos Mlynarik
In partnership with: Rumble Studios, Milos Photography, Sure Studios & Optika
Cast: Trevor Jones, Mayra Nascimento, Paul Presdee, Roslyn Lynch, Paul Amaral, Dr Anastasia Hronis, Jeremy Richmond
Assistant Director: Kota Sato
Voiceover: Daniel William
Stylist: Emma Cotterill
Gaffers: Steve Schofield, Alan Fraser
Sound: Dexter Cave
Data Wrangler: Woodsee
Editor: James Tyrrell
Music Score: Jeremy Richmond
SFX: John Agapitos
Thanks to: Alex Booker, Antony Aston, Ant Melder, Benn Sutton, Ben Rae, Dave Anlezark, Felix Bornholdt, Jade Manning, Justin Solomons, Kelly Walshe, Kerrie Atherton, Kiara Watson, Mariah Ferrer, Michael Harris, Nick Polovineo, Nick Wilkinson, Nils Eberhardt, Parisa Rezaei-Abyaneh, Peter Kanellopoulos, Rino Darusman, Ron Isherwood, Ryan Greves, Tequila Isherwood, Tommy Cehak, Vincent Osmond
