Offensive

Although they only account for a small part of the ASA’s work, complaints about taste and decency are often the most high profile.

Upheld decisions can result in widespread adverse publicity for the company concerned and marketers can be required to have posters pre-vetted by CAP’s Copy Advice team for two years if they publish an offensive poster.

The rules state ads must not contain anything that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence, and specifies that special care must be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability and age.

When making a decision on whether an ad is likely to cause widespread offence, we take into account: the audience who are likely to see the ad; the context in which the ad appears; the product it’s promoting; and prevailing standards in society. To help judge those standards, from time-to-time, we commission major consumer research to find out what concerns people and where they think the line should be drawn.

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Latest rulings

Whaleco UK Ltd t/a Temu
- Upheld
- Internet (display), App (paid ad)
- 01 November 2023
Four display ads and an in-app ad for Temu were sexually graphic and likely to cause widespread offence; sexualised someone who was a child; sexually objectified women; and were inappropriately targeted.
ThruDark Ltd
- Upheld
- Social media (own site)
- 18 October 2023
An Instagram post for a clothing brand was irresponsible, offensive and condoned and encouraged violence, particularly against women, as well as glamourising guns and gun violence.
Alibaba.com Singapore E-commerce Private Ltd t/a Alibaba.com
- Upheld
- Website (paid ad)
- 20 September 2023
A paid-for ad on a newspaper website portrayed a child in a sexualised way and was harmful and socially irresponsible.
Viva! t/a Viva!
- Upheld
- 06 September 2023
Two paid-for social media ads for Viva! were irresponsibly targeted and were likely to cause unnecessary distress and serious and widespread offence.

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Offensive

Although they only account for a small part of the ASA’s work, complaints about taste and decency are often the most high profile.

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