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

Optimize Business Ltd t/a SoulTalk
- Social media (paid ad)
- 17 June 2026
A paid-for TikTok ad for an AI-friends chat app was socially irresponsible and caused serious and widespread offence, including by objectifying and sexualising women and featuring a harmful gender stereotype.
Amazon Europe Core Sarl t/a Amazon.co.uk
- Upheld
- Social media (paid ad)
- 10 June 2026
A paid-for Instagram ad for Amazon Fresh UK broke the rules by featuring an identifiable less healthy food product.
Dribble Media Ltd t/a Midnite
- Not upheld
- Social media (influencer or affiliate ad)
- 10 June 2026
A TikTok post on Mia Mon’s account promoting an online betting platform didn’t feature someone who was likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s.
Betway Ltd t/a Betway
- Not Upheld
- Social media (own site)
- 27 May 2026
An Instagram post for Betway featuring Thierry Henry wasn’t likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s.

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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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