As we drift into Summer, we salute a time-honoured tradition called Trooping the Colour. For over 260 years, this event marks the official birthday of the British Sovereign – that is, King Charles III. To celebrate, we’ve curated three ASA rulings about Trooping the Colour’s crowning jewel – soldiers and the military! Whilst these soldiers or military products might not have anything to do with Royalty, they’ve made it into our ASA history books by setting precedent. Tenuous link? You bet! Get combat-ready – we’re going in!
I’ll take first watch
Our first case deals with an ad for a military watch which stated “This crazy £69 military smart watch is going to be banned from the public. This former UK Special Forces operator built a groundbreaking new smart watch and it’s taking the watch market by storm in the UK. It uses some of the most advanced military technology in the world”. The ad, which was seen on Youtube, also claimed the watch was indestructible, had a two-week battery life and could help navigate outdoors and speak to others. However, the ASA found these claims misleading due to a lack of substantiation (and noted the company's failure to respond to them). As a result, the ASA ruled the ad breached the Code.
We often see examples of advertisers exaggerating the capabilities of their products; any exaggeration which leads to someone being misled is likely to be problematic and a breach of rule 3.11. Remember, if the product really is as good as you think, then there’s no need to exaggerate.
Top War certainly not top drawer
Our next case features two TikTok ads promoting a mobile game, Top War. One ad depicted a car cutting down trees, driving into other vehicles and destroying them along with soldiers on a car fighting other soldiers. The other ad featured soldiers fighting and taking land and a woman saying “I got really excited about Top War. Everyone is saying that it is nothing like the ads and so I am going to try it out today… So Top War looks just like the ads. And it is a super casual game. But you also get to use war strategy, which is obviously super fun. Ten out of ten recommend.” The ASA received two complaints that the footage of the game was not actually representative of the gameplay. Once again, the advertisers did not respond and the ASA found that while Top War did involve the movement, merging and fighting of troops, the in-game footage in the ads was not representative of the product. Specifically, the locations presented in the ads, the speed of the combat and how units fought and merged did not represent the actual game. In addition, the graphics in the ads did not accurately reflect those used in game.
Marketers of video games should always ensure that any game footage they use in an ad is not misleading and represents what anyone playing the game would see – our guidance on Entertainment: Video Games and Entertainment: Mobile Games has more on this.
Field commanders
Our last case deals with two television ads for the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, aired during Rugby World Cup matches. The ads featured intense scenes of urban warfare, including gunfire, explosions, and military action along with a helicopter crashing. Twenty-four viewers complained, expressing concern that the ads were inappropriately scheduled during programmes when younger children were likely to be watching. However, the ASA concluded that the ads were appropriately scheduled, noting that the Rugby World Cup matches were not specifically targeted at or likely to appeal particularly to children, and the proportion of child viewers was small. As such, the complaints were not upheld.
Targeting can be tricky to get right – not only do you have to consider the content of the ad, but what the ad will be playing around or where it will be placed. Whilst in this instance the complaints were not upheld, the ASA did conclude the content was NOT suitable for children – if it had been played elsewhere, perhaps the ASA would have concluded differently. At least in this instance, the advertisers targeted appropriately. You can read more about targeting in our Children: Targeting guidance.
Three rulings, three military links for Trooping the Colour. If you need some more regimented and Private (gettit?) help, you can always contact our disciplined (well, maybe…) Copy Advice team. No advertiser left behind!
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