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ASA Ruling on Sony Pictures Releasing UK

Sony Pictures Releasing UK

Sony Pictures Europe House
25 Golden Square
London
W1F 9LU

Date:

26 February 2014

Media:

Internet (display)

Sector:

Leisure

Number of complaints:

2

Complaint Ref:

A13-252716

Background

Summary of Council decision:

Two issues were investigated, both of which were Not upheld.

Ad

A large banner ad, shown on the Yahoo.com e-mail log-in page, promoted the film "Carrie". The ad featured an image of a female character covered in blood, standing in front of a car with one of her arms outstretched. The image of the car was partially obscured by the log-in form, but appeared to be at an angle, and the bonnet was compressed as though it had impacted another object with force. The ad also included an imbedded trailer that had to be clicked before it was shown.

Issue

1. One complainant challenged whether the ad was likely to cause undue fear or distress; and

2. One complainant, who reported that his young daughter was upset when she viewed the ad, challenged whether it was inappropriate for display where it could be seen by children.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

Response

1. & 2. Sony Pictures Releasing UK stated that the ad featured the official poster for the film. They said the poster ad had been reviewed by the CAP Copy Advice team who deemed it suitable to appear on the London Underground, which Sony believed was an untargeted environment similar to the online Yahoo mail environment where the users saw the ad. As with all their campaigns, they said they had not used a poster that could not be viewed within untargeted environments. They also said the campaign had ended.

Yahoo stated that no age targeting had been applied to the campaign and that it was no longer live on Yahoo UK. They noted that one of the complainants had reported seeing the ad with his young daughter when he had needed to check his emails in her presence. They therefore highlighted that even if specific age targeting had been applied to the campaign, it would not have prevented the creative from being visible to a child when a parent logged into their own Yahoo Mail account.

Assessment

1. Not upheld

The ASA noted that the ad featured a cropped version of the official poster for the film "Carrie" and appeared to all Yahoo Mail users prior to log-in. We understood that the film was in the horror genre, and that the image of "Carrie" covered in blood with her arm outstretched towards a car, which appeared to have stopped due to an unforeseen force, reflected that genre. Whilst we acknowledged that some viewers might find the image unsettling, we concluded that the ad was unlikely to cause fear or distress.

On that point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Responsible advertising) and 4.2 (Harm and offence), but did not find it in breach.

2. Not upheld

We understood that the image appeared prior to log-in, and had not been age-gated and could therefore appear to consumers of any age who purposefully or accidentally navigated to the page, including children. We considered, however, that younger children would not have a Yahoo Mail account and were unlikely to be using the internet to access Yahoo Mail unsupervised. Although we acknowledged that the some younger children might not like seeing the image of "Carrie" covered in blood, we did not consider that it was likely to cause harm to children. Therefore, we concluded that the ad was not unsuitable for display where it could be seen by children.

On that point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Responsible advertising) and 4.2 (Harm and offence), but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

How to comply with the rules

For advice and training on the Advertising Codes please visit the CAP website.

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