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

Magic Tavern Inc
- Upheld
- In-game (apps)
- 10 December 2025
Three paid-for Meta ads for a mobile app game were socially irresponsible and likely to cause serious or widespread offence, including by normalising, condoning and making light of domestic violence, abusive relationships, and bullying, by objectifying women and by presenting gender stereotypes in a way that would like...
Gorgeous Shard Puzzle Studio
- Upheld
- In-game (apps)
- 17 September 2025
An in-game ad for a mobile game app was socially irresponsible and likely to cause serious and widespread offence, including by objectifying and sexualising women and featuring a harmful gender stereotype.
Colgate-Palmolive (UK) Ltd
- Upheld
- 20 August 2025
A TV ad for Sanex shower gel was likely to cause serious offence by featuring a racial stereotype.
Inkitt GmbH t/a Inkitt
- Upheld
- In-game (apps)
- 06 August 2025
An in-app ad was not appropriately targeted and contained scenes that condoned sexually violent behaviour and were likely to cause 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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