ASA Adjudication on Red Circle Technologies

Ad

An ad for Red Circle offered video clips via mobile phones. A voiceover said "80333 See hot videos of girls in your area now! Just text FILM to 80333. Check out Dirty Debbie from Blackpool as she gets hot and bothered! Or how about our naughty minx Sharon from Brighton as she gets hot under the covers! To get these babe videos Text FILM to 80333. Over 35,000 sexy babe videos from all over the UK! Subscribe to 6 naughty videos now! £3 per week, that's just 50p each. Text FILM to 80333". Throughout the ad, clips of naked women, with their breasts either covered or obscured from vision, were shown. Text, onscreen throughout the ad, said "TEXT FILM TO 80333 16+ & Bill Payers Permission. Get up to 6 Hot Babe Videos for just 50p each when you join the 80333 club for £3 per week."

The ad was broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel at 3.25pm and again in the early evening.

Issue

1. Three viewers challenged whether the ad was suitable to be shown at these times.

2. The ASA challenged whether the ad was suitable for scheduling other than on encrypted elements of adult entertainment channels.

Response

1.  Red Circle said that the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) had imposed a timing restriction on the ad limiting its transmission to after 9pm only.  They said the Sci-Fi Channel had chosen to extend the restriction to after 11pm only, which Red Circle said they had not objected to at the time.  However, on the occasions complained about, the Sci-Fi Channel had mistakenly failed to apply any restriction.  Red Circle believed the complaints would not have arisen if the 11pm timing restriction had been applied as intended.  They did not believe the content of the ad was sexually explicit or overtly suggestive and believed it was in line with the kind of "glamour" images seen in national daily tabloid newspapers.  They did not consider it unacceptable after 11pm and did not agree that it should be shown on encrypted elements of adult entertainment channels only.  They said the Independent Mobile Classification Body's (IMCB) guidelines classified the images provided by the service as non-adult and that the service therefore used a non-adult shortcode.

The BACC had given the ad a post 9pm restriction. They said the video content fell within the remit of the IMCB and was considered to be of a non-adult nature.

The Sci-Fi Channel said they had mistakenly broadcast the ad before the BACC's 9pm restriction and apologised for that error.  They said the error had led to a review of their processes to ensure that it did not happen again. They said, with the exception of the transmissions that gave rise to the complaints, they had taken the decision to schedule the ad to appear after 11pm only.

2.  Red Circle said they did not believe the content of the ad was sexually explicit or overtly suggestive and believed it was in line with the kind of "glamour" images seen in national daily tabloid newspapers.  They did not consider it unacceptable after 11pm and did not agree that it should be shown on encrypted elements of adult entertainment channels only.  They said the IMCB's guidelines classified the images provided by the service as non-adult and that the service therefore used a non-adult shortcode.

The BACC had given the ad a post 9pm restriction. They said the video content fell within the remit of the IMCB and was considered to be of a non-adult nature.

The Sci-Fi Channel said they had mistakenly broadcast the ad before the BACC's 9pm restriction and apologised for that error.  They said the error had led to a review of their processes to ensure that it did not happen again. They said, with the exception of the transmissions that gave rise to the complaints, they had taken the decision to schedule the ad to appear after 11pm only.

Assessment

THIS ADJUDICATION REPLACES THAT PUBLISHED ON 30th AUGUST 2006. THE COMPLAINTS REMAIN UPHELD BUT THE WORDING HAS BEEN CHANGED.

Upheld

We noted that, under IMCB classification framework, the video content provided by the service was considered to be of a non-adult nature and therefore did not use an adult shortcode. We do not interpret the requirement in Rule 11.1.2 for advertisments of premium rate services to be broadcast on encrypted elements of adult entertainment channels only to be limited solely to services deemed to be sexually explicit or using the 0909 dialling code. We considered that, because the content of the service featured videos of topless women in sexually provocative poses, the service was of a sexual nature even if not sexually explicit or pornographic. We considered that the ad should not have been broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel at any time.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 6.1 (Offence), 7.3.1 (Moral harm - children), 7.3.7 (Use of scheduling restrictions), 11.1.2 (Premium rate telephone services - sexually explicit) and CAP (Broadcast) Rules on the Scheduling of Advertisements rule 4.2.3 (Treatments unsuitable for children). We also considered the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rule 3.1(h) (Unacceptable categories - pornography) but did not find it in breach.

Action

The ad must not be broadcast again except on encrypted elements of adult entertainment channels.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)