Violence in Advertisements – the latest installment

28 February 2008

Violence in advertisements continues to be of concern to consumers, consumer bodies and the Government.

The ASA had seen complaints rise over the year.  In the last six months of 2006, it received 916 complaints about violence relating to 195 ads. In 2007, the ASA received 1,800 complaints about 569 ads.

In a previous Update@CAP, we looked at some of the violence in ads for films and computer games. We saw how the public was concerned about the effect of the ads on children and how careful targeting, whether on TV, radio or online, was necessary to avoid falling foul of the ASA and the CAP and BCAP Codes.  Read the article Keeping a check on violence in ads for Horror films

ASA Debate on violence

The ASA's seminar on violence in advertisements gave the public an opportunity to discuss violence in ads and the way it affected their lives and communities.

Questions that the ASA explored at its seminar included:

• What types of violence and aggression are acceptable in ads?
• Is cartoon or animated violence more acceptable than real violence?
• Is there a difference between the depiction of fantasy violence and real violence?
• How far can violence be stylised or glamorised?
• How closely should ads for 18-rated or 15-rated computer games or films reflect the content of the game or film?

Ultimately, the decisions that the ASA makes on matters of taste and decency, such as whether advertisements are too violent, are highly subjective and open to interpretation. The ASA therefore wanted to ensure it was reflecting the prevailing standards in society by listening to the public’s thoughts on this sensitive topic.

The ASA's report on the event records the attendees’ opinions, some of which are summarized below:

• A delegate said horror films and violent computer games desensitised young people to violence
• Another delegate thought that an ad, for a film, that showed various scenes of torture and a woman’s throat being cut was unacceptable because it encouraged the idea that it was OK to torture people. In her opinion, permitting ads of that nature encouraged young men with latent violent tendencies to consider violence as thrilling and normal.
• A delegate said the social climate of violence in culture was really desperate for some sections of society at present. From a grassroots perspective, people were trying to address the problem and finding that many images in ads were not helping. He thought the fantasy v reality argument was academic, because images on the street could have an impact straight away.
• Another delegate said she was concerned that the portrayal of weapons in advertisements gave them a certain ”coolness”, which did nothing to help keep knife and gun possession low among young people

Those are by no means all the comments that came from the debate; attendees accepted both the need for creativity in advertising and that parents had a responsibility when it came to enforcing the watershed.

You can read the ASA's full report here

Recent adjudications by the ASA

Although the focus of the debate and of our previous Update article was on ads for products that featured violence, such as computer games or films, the ASA recently upheld a complaint for an ad for a household furnishing retailer.

MFI ran a series of TV ads that featured various scenes in which domestic arguments were taking place including a mother and daughter rowing in a kitchen after the daughter returns home late and a husband and wife in bed arguing about him having spent the preceding evening chatting to a female colleague. Each ad ended with the revelation that the domestic scenes were taking place in an MFI showroom. 217 viewers objected that the ads were offensive, shocking and disturbing as well as irresponsible and distressing, because they highlighted and trivialised problems of child and domestic abuse.

In response to that criticism, MFI said it believed the ads were light-hearted and were neither offensive nor irresponsible. Although it accepted that the dialogue and action in the ads was vigorous, MFI thought it was obvious that it was not real life and they would be unlikely to cause distress.

Although it understood that the depiction of arguing and perceived abuse in the domestic scenes was not to everyone’s tastes, the ASA considered that the scenarios in four of the five ads were likely to be viewed in the context that MFI had intended. The ASA accepted that they would be unlikely to be seen to depict scenes of child or domestic abuse or trivialize those problems.

But one of the ads, which featured a woman slapping her husband twice for leaving the toilet seat up, was of considerable concern to the ASA. It implied that aggression and violence enabled people to get their own way. Depicting slapping as an acceptable way to resolve problems was likely to be seen to condone intimidation, domestic violence and aggression and therefore cause serious or widespread offence. Furthermore, children could be caused social, moral or psychological harm.

Although MFI withdrew that advertisement, the ASA pointed to the seriousness of the offence that it had caused and was concerned that it had been broadcast in the first place.

Click here to read the adjudication

The ASA has upheld complaints about a TV ad for "Stranglehold," a computer game that showed a prolonged shoot-out between four men.  A voice-over stated "Honour is his code.  Vengeance is his mission.  Violence is his only option.  John Woo presents Stranglehold.  The next generation of action gaming has arrived".  The ASA considered that the voice-over suggested that seeking revenge was honorable and that violence was an acceptable solution to a problem.  The ad was therefore likely to be seen as encouraging and condoning violence.  Because the problems raised by the ad could not be addressed with a timing restriction, the ASA considered the only solution was to withdraw the ad from transmission completely.

Click here to read the adjudication

It’s clear that consumers are deeply disturbed by violence in advertisements and so those responsible for creating ads should take extra care with their ads.  Help can be sought on code compliance early on in your campaign planning from Clearcast for TV ads, the RACC for radio ads and the CAP Copy Advice team for ads in other media.