ASA Adjudication on Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Ltd

Ad

A TV ad, for the DVD of the film 'Max Payne', showed scenes from the film, which included a character loading a shot gun, explosions, a woman removing her top and another woman in bed, as well as several characters who fired a range of guns. Text on screen, which was also shown with images of guns, stated "MORE HEAT MORE PAIN HARDER CUT". A voice-over at the end stated "Max Payne harder cut. Out on Blu-ray and DVD now".

The ad was cleared by Clearcast with a post 19.30 scheduling restriction.

Issue

One viewer, who saw the ad at 20.45, complained that the ad was too violent to be shown at a time when children might be watching.

BCAP TV Code

BCAP TV Scheduling Code

Response

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Ltd (Twentieth Century Fox) said they did not intend to use the ad again in future.

Clearcast said they believed the ad was not gritty or reflective of gun crime or the reality of street culture.  There was no bloodshed, nudity or interpersonal gun fights; all shooting was isolated so the gun holder was the only individual that was shown at that time.  There was one brief scene of interpersonal violence but was shot in such a way that the audience did not see any impact.  They believed the appropriate restriction had been applied for the level of violence shown and was sufficient to prevent children from suffering any mental harm. The ad would not be broadcast before 19.30 or in the breaks immediately before, during or after childrens programmes.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the ad did not show physical contact or violence occurring directly between the characters.  We noted that there were guns and shooting but considered the overall impression of the ad was one of fictional content of an action gangster film. The presence of guns in that context were unlikely to be interpreted as a suggestion that the use of guns in real life was acceptable.  We considered the ad did not encourage or condone violence or cruelty and was unlikely to be seen to glorify guns.

We considered that the ad was unlikely to cause mental harm to children, because it did not present violence in a way which was likely to be seen as condoning comparable behaviour in real life. However, because it showed some violence and several scenes involving guns and shooting, we considered the ad was inappropriate for young children and a post 19.30 restriction was not therefore sufficient.  We concluded that a post 21.00 restriction would have minimised the possibility of young children seeing the ad.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rule 7.4.7 (Use of scheduling restrictions) and TV Scheduling Code rule 4.2.3 (Treatments unsuitable for children).  We also investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 6.2 (Violence and cruelty) and 7.4.1 (Mental harm) but did not find it in breach.

Action

The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form before 21.00.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)