This year’s El Gordo lottery TV advert launched

ALTHOUGH tickets for the Christmas EL Gordo (the Fat One) lottery have been on sale for some time, it is about now that the organisers launch TV advertisements in an effort to persuade an already willing public to participate.

This Christmas lottery has been organised every year since 1812 by an arm of the Spanish Government now called Loterias y Apuestas del Estado. 

It has been so popular that the draw even continued during the Civil War, but not only does the government benefit by keeping 30 per cent of the total spent on the tickets but also now charges a ‘profit tax’ on winnings over €2,500.

There is only a limited range of numbers, but more than one ticket with the same numbers is offered for sale, and most of the outlets only have two or three different numbers which means that there could be say 500 big winners within the same town.

There have been some fairly boring adverts for the lottery, but this year the organisers and their advertising agency Leo Burnett have excelled themselves by creating an up to date and very amusing animated story.

It features Justino, a lonely night watchman in a mannequin factory who spends his nights alone but decides to lighten his daytime colleagues’ lives by placing the mannequins in amusing situations which they see every morning when they come to work. There is of course a happy ending when they ensure that he is included when they buy a ticket and then win El Gordo.