In 2007 objections to violent images in advertising, particularly images of weapons, reflected a wider public concern about knife and gun crime.
01_MFI's slap ad
02_Shoot 'Em Up fim poster
03_TV ad for the film Hannibal Rising
Getting tough on violent ads
One of the benefits of a non-statutory approach to advertising standards is that the self-regulatory system can react speedily to emerging trends. During the year, there was a big increase in complaints about violent images in advertising – the ads complained about on this topic in 2007 were roughly twice the number recorded in 2006. Clearly something was going on.
To some extent, the increase in complaints reflected concerns prompted by the incidence of stabbings and shootings involving young people – the most high-profile of which was the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones in Liverpool in August 2007. The ASA investigated 55 complaints about posters for the film Shoot ‘Em Up, featuring guns. The ASA ruled that the prominence of the gun in one of the posters and the action shot and the actor’s expression in another suggested a direct aggression that could be seen to glamorise the use of guns and violence.
Advertising for video games also attracted complaints when the marketing included violent images. Ads for films or videos containing extreme sex and violence also provoked a big postbag.
Multiple complaints about ads also reflected a lack of public tolerance for violent images in more everyday situations. The antismoking “fish hook” posters and the MFI slapped face TV commercial were among the top 10 most complained about ads of the year.
So how does the ASA decide what is acceptable in this genre of advertising? The codes are clear about ads having to be socially responsible and not cause serious or widespread offence.
In 2007, we devoted our consumer event in the East Midlands to a discussion of where the line should be drawn. ASA Chairman Chris Smith heard from a specially invited audience in Nottingham, including elected representatives, community workers, academics, teachers and religious leaders. Conference delegates wanted the ASA to come down hard on the gratuitous portrayal of violence in advertising, although they wanted context to be taken into account – either the nature of the product advertised or the kind of media in which the ad appeared.
Read more about the Nottingham event on our website.
