ASA Adjudication on Lions Gate UK Ltd

Ad

A TV ad, for the film SAW 3D, started with images of two men, one of whom was screaming and reaching towards the viewer with blood on his hand. A voice-over stated “Since the beginning you have watched others”. The following images showed a bare-chested man breathing heavily in a car with a broken windscreen, people on a street looking at a window display, a swinging cage, a spiked metal mesh crashing down, and a man falling out of the bottom of a hanging cage as the voice-over continued “Now it is your turn to play.” The next scene showed spiky metal restraints suddenly appearing around the arm and shoulders of a man wearing 3D glasses. He screamed. The voice-over continued “Experience the final ever Saw in eye-popping, heart-pounding, mind-blowing 3D" whilst images were shown of circular saw blades flying over the people in a cinema and towards the viewer, people cowering from an explosion, two people hanging from a shaft, a close-up of a screaming man falling, a huge figure reaching out into the cinema from the screen and lifting a person back towards the screen, and a cage crashing through a window. The voice of the ‘Jigsaw’ character said “The last piece of the puzzle is you” as the camera moved towards a woman tied between rail tracks, followed by a vehicle on the same tracks coming towards the viewer and flying out over the people in the cinema making them flinch. The voice-over stated "Saw 3D." On-screen text stated "SAW 3D THE FINAL CHAPTER". Circular-saw blades flew towards the viewer and the voice-over continued “Only available in cinemas October 28th.” On-screen text “IN CINEMAS THURS OCT 28" appeared under the preceding text.

The ad was cleared by Clearcast with a post 7.30 pm restriction.

Issue

The complainant, who was ten years of age and who saw the ad at 8:29pm during The Gadget Show on Channel 5, thought the ad was distressing and was inappropriately scheduled.

BCAP Code

Response

Clearcast said that they had watched a number of ads for Saw 3D, and had given a range of timing restrictions to those ads. They considered that a post 7.30pm restriction was appropriate in this case in order to keep the ad away from young children who might not understand the action. They felt that anyone watching television after 7.30pm would be able to make the distinction that the ad was for a film and therefore clearly based in fantasy.

They noted that the ad did feature some scenes of people in distress but that viewers did not see what led to the distress, or the consequences. They added that apart from one scene where a man had blood on his hand, the viewer did not see any more blood or scenes of injury or death.

Clearcast said that a number of the ads in the campaign featured similar scenes and had received the same timing restriction but no other complaints had been received. They said that it was regrettable that one viewer had found the ad distressing but they believed that the post 7.30pm restriction was appropriately given and it was clear that it had not caused widespread offence.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted Clearcasts assertion that, apart from the scene where a man had blood on his hand, the viewer did not see any more blood or scenes of injury or death. However, we also noted that many of the scenes showed people in distress and in physical danger.

We considered that, although the ad was clearly for a film and therefore based in fantasy, the scenes of people in the cinema - particularly those where they were suddenly trapped by metal restraints and where the figure reached out and pulled a cinema-goer back towards the screen - linked the scenes from the film with a recognisably real situation. We considered it was therefore likely to cause distress to young children who might not make a clear distinction between the scenes from the film and the scenes in the cinema, and a post 7.30pm restriction was not sufficient. We concluded that a post 9pm restriction ought to have been applied, to minimise the possibility of young children seeing the ad.

The ad breached BCAP Code rules 4.1 (Harm and Offence), 5.1 (Children), 32.1, and 32.3 (Scheduling of Television and Radio Advertisements).

Action

The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form before 9pm.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)