Ad description
An in-game ad for an AI simulator app, seen on April 6 2025, featured an image of a man alongside text stating, “me”, next to an image of the singer Sabrina Carpenter alongside text stating, “My crush”. An AI simulated video showed the two kissing and text stated, “Kiss your CELEBRITY CRUSH”. A voiceover stated, “Just upload two photos to filter AI app and it will create a video of kissing your celebrity crush in seconds.” Further text stated, “Filter AI. No #1 AI Video Generator. Try with your own photo”.
Issue
The complainant, who believed that the ad objectified women, challenged whether it was offensive and promoted a harmful gender stereotype.
Response
Cosmos Oyun Yazilim Sanayi Ticaret Ltd Sirketi t/a Filter AI said they did not intend for the ad to objectify women or to promote a harmful gender stereotype.
They said the purpose of the ad was to promote their product in a creative and responsible manner. They said they would review their internal advertising guidelines and confirmed that the ad had been withdrawn.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that ads must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society, must not cause serious or widespread offence and must not include gender stereotypes that were likely to cause harm.
The ad featured an AI simulated video in which a man and the singer Sabrina Carpenter were seen to kiss each other, alongside text which stated, “Kiss your celebrity crush”. That video was generated by uploading two images of individual people. The ASA considered that, within the context of the man being labelled “me” and the woman being labelled “My Crush”, the woman was portrayed as being a person who the man was physically attracted to. She was then seen kissing the man, which was her sole role in the ad. Because her only purpose in the ad was entirely focused on being a person for the man to kiss, which was an intimate act, we considered she was reduced to being presented as an object. We therefore considered the ad objectified women and featured a harmful gender stereotype.
We also considered the phrase “Just upload two photos to filter AI app and it will create a video of kissing your celebrity crush in seconds” alongside images of women, was both harmful and offensive to women because it implied consumers should use the app to objectify them. We therefore considered the phrase, alongside a selection of images of women, reinforced the harmful impression that it was acceptable to objectify and stereotype women by presenting them as objects.
For those reasons, we considered the ad objectified women by reducing them to physical objects. We therefore concluded that the ad included a harmful gender stereotype and was likely to cause serious offence.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Social responsibility), 4.1 and 4.9 (Harm and offence).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Cosmos Oyun Yazilim Sanayi Ticaret Ltd Sirketi t/a Filter AI to ensure that future ads were socially responsible and did not cause serious offence, including by featuring a harmful gender stereotype that objectified women.
