Background
Summary of Council decision:
Two issues were investigated, both of which were Upheld.
Ad description
An in-game ad for the mobile app PolyBuzz, an AI chat platform, seen on 10 February 2025 in the app game ‘Room Sort’ featured an animated image of a woman who had her mouth open. The image was partially obscured by overlaid text that stated, “Me after finding a cai alternative with No Filters!!”. It also featured a text-message exchange in which one party asked, “so do you want me to kiss you”, “or do you want me to f**k you”, “you know what I want to hear from you”, “say something” [sic]. The other party replied, “Please taste me”.
Issue
The complainant, who understood that the 'Room Sort' game was classified as being suitable for all ages, challenged whether the ad:
- was likely to cause serious or widespread offence; and
-
had been targeted irresponsibly.
Response
Cloud Whale Interactive Technology did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Gamincat Inc, the developer of the game in which the ad was seen, said that they had implemented restrictions on adult-related ads through ad network filters but somehow this ad had been displayed. They had therefore asked ad network companies to block the advertiser, so that it would not appear again. Gamincat Inc also told us that they had not received any direct complaints about the ad.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Cloud Whale Interactive Technology’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
1. & 2. Upheld
The CAP Code required marketers to avoid causing serious or widespread offence and to ensure advertising was prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society.
The ad depicted a text exchange between two characters which was of a sexual nature. It featured the text “Me after finding a cai alternative with No Filters!!” which we considered users of the app would be likely to understand to mean an AI-generated character which had no filters or restrictions on what it could say. It included the text “do you want me to f**k you” [sic]. We considered that those who saw the ad would understand that it implied the word ‘fuck’ and the question was therefore pertaining to sexual intercourse. We considered ‘fuck’ a word so likely to offend that it should not generally be used or alluded to in advertising. The ad also featured the text “Please taste me” which we considered, in that context, some users of the app were likely to understand as being sexual innuendo alluding to engaging in oral sex.
The ad had appeared in the game 'Room Sort'. 'Room Sort' was rated as suitable for those aged 12 years and older which meant it could be downloaded by children. The advertiser provided no information about how they targeted their advertising, or if they used interest-based criteria to do so.
Because the ad contained extremely offensive language which was also pertaining to sexual intercourse in a medium that would have had broad appeal, including to children, as well as other sexual references, we considered it was likely to cause serious and widespread offence, and had been targeted irresponsibly. We therefore concluded that the ad breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Social responsibility) and 4.1 (Harm and offence).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Cloud Whale Interactive Technology to ensure that future ads were socially responsible and did not cause serious or widespread offence, including by avoiding references to expletives or sexual references unless in a suitably targeted medium. We also told them to ensure that their ads were responsibly targeted. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
