ASA Adjudication on Twentieth Century Fox Film Company Ltd

Ad

A TV ad for a PG certified film called 'Aliens in the Attic', broadcast during early morning programming for young children, showed the shadow of an alien on the roof of a house followed by an animated alien saying "Hello humans". It also showed aliens bursting through a window, clambering over a roof, caught in a blue force-field, on a skateboard in a house, swinging around a pole and screaming at the sight of a young child (also screaming). Some of the film's teenage characters said "Did you hear that?", "Please tell me you see that too", "There's an alien invasion of knee-high beings, very violent" and "An entire fleet of those guys are about to invade. We're taking them down". A voice-over stated "This summer be afraid, be sort of afraid. Now, there are Aliens in the Attic. Invading cinemas now".

Clearcast did not apply a scheduling restriction to the ad.

Issue

Two viewers said the ad contained images of aliens which had frightened their young children, one of whom was three years old, and should not have been shown during programmes targeted at children aged three or below.

BCAP TV Code

BCAP TV Scheduling Code

Response

Twentieth Century Fox Film Company's agency said they had received no complaints about the ad and they believed it contained nothing to frighten young children.

Clearcast said they approved over 90 separate edits of the ad, and gave timing restrictions to the versions they considered could scare viewers.  They believed this particular ad did not warrant a timing restriction, because the aliens were depicted as friendly and non-threatening to the human characters; although boisterous and energetic, they were not menacing.  They also thought the aliens had a cute quality because of their large eyes and their tendency to smile or grin.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered that the aliens were portrayed mostly as playful and chaotic, not menacing. However we noted the ad began with the shadow of an alien on a roof, a voice-over stating "Be afraid" and a person saying "Did you hear that?" in an anxious voice.  We considered the ominous tone at the beginning of the ad was likely to frighten very young children.  We also noted the ad featured a scene of a child screaming at the sight of an alien, which we again considered was likely to distress very young children.  Although it would be clear to older children and adults that the alien was itself scared when confronted with a screaming child, we were of the view that very young children might not realise that the alien was itself frightened and did not present a threat.  We concluded that a scheduling restriction, in order to direct the ad away from young children, was warranted on this occasion.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 7.4.6 (Children - Distress) and 7.4.7 (Children - Use of scheduling restrictions) and CAP (Broadcast) Rules on the Scheduling of TV Advertisements 4.2.3 (Particular separation of advertisements and programmes - Treatments unsuitable for children).

Action

The ad must not be broadcast again in or around programmes made for, or specifically targeted at, children.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)