Background
Summary of Council decision:
Two issues were investigated, both of which were Upheld.
Ad description
An in-game ad for the mobile app game Chapters was seen in the mobile app game Lamar – Idle Vlogger on 8 August 2022. It featured an animation of two women “Sara” and “Nora”, having a conversation whilst in a nightclub. On-screen speech bubbles showed their conversation and included text that stated, “I just broke up. Guys suck!” and “Don’t be upset. Let’s have a drink!”. Another speech bubble from Sara included text that stated, “What should I do?” and presented two options on screen: “Accept” and “Refuse”. “Accept” was automatically selected. The animation then cut to Sara looking shocked while staring down at Nora who was lying down with her bare legs spread open, whilst she was holding a vibrator in her hand and making moaning sounds. An on-screen speech bubble from Nora included text that stated, “I’m drunk…”. Two icons were then presented as options on screen: “Play with her”, which was lit up indicating that it had been selected; and “Leave away”. Sara undid her shirt and took off her trousers to reveal her lingerie.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad:
1. was offensive and irresponsible; and
2. had been irresponsibly targeted.
Response
Crazy Maple Studio Inc t/a Chapters did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Advant Studio, the developers of the game in which the ad was seen, said that they had not noticed ads of this nature in their app. They confirmed that they had not received any complaints about the ad.
They understood that the ad had been served through the ad network Vungle. Vungle had not confirmed to them that the ad was shown during their game, but if it had, Chapter’s had chosen the wrong target audience.
Vungle did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Crazy Maple Studio Inc t/a Chapters lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 1.7 Any unreasonable delay in responding to the ASA's enquiries will normally be considered a breach of the Code. (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
1. Upheld
The ad, which was for an interactive stories game, featured two animated female characters, one of who was holding a vibrator with her bare legs spread open whilst saying she was drunk and making moaning sounds, whilst the other looked down shocked at her. The ad included an option to “Play with her” and then showed one of the women removing her clothes to reveal her lingerie. We considered that the implication of the ad was overtly sexual in its content. We considered that portraying women in that way, for no other reason than to promote an online game, objectified them by presenting them as sexual objects with the sole purpose of titillating viewers.
Because we considered the ad was objectifying, we further considered it was likely to cause serious and widespread offence and included a gender stereotype in a way that was likely to cause harm. We therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible and breached the Code.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
1.3
1.3
Marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society.
(Social responsibility),
4.1
4.1
Marketing communications must not contain anything that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Particular care must be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of: age; disability; gender; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; and sexual orientation. Compliance will be judged on the context, medium, audience, product and prevailing standards.
Marketing communications may be distasteful without necessarily breaching this rule. Marketers are urged to consider public sensitivities before using potentially offensive material.
The fact that a product is offensive to some people is not grounds for finding a marketing communication in breach of the Code.
and
4.9
4.9
Marketing communications must not include gender stereotypes that are likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offence.
See Advertising Guidance: “Depicting gender stereotypes likely to cause harm or serious or widespread offence?”
(Harm and offence).
2. Upheld
We considered that, because this specific ad was irresponsible and likely to cause serious or widespread offence, it was not suitable to be featured in any game, regardless of whether the advertiser had taken steps to target it away from specific audiences.
We understood that the advertised game “Chapters”, included gameplay similar to that depicted in the ad. Notwithstanding the above, we expected Crazy Maple Studio Inc to have targeted any ad for the game responsibly, including limiting the audience to users aged 18 years and over. This should have been achieved using age verification measures including interest-based targeting factors that described an adult audience and excluded a child audience. However, the ad, which was played on an iPhone, was seen in a game with an age rating of “9+” in the Apple App Store. We noted the same game was rated as “EVERYONE” in the Google Play App Store – meaning it was generally considered suitable for all age groups. The Chapters game had an age rating of 17+ years in both the Apple and Google Play app stores.
We considered that consumers playing unrelated games would not expect to be served an ad for a game which featured adult content. Because the advertiser had not provided us with evidence that they had taken appropriate action to minimise the risk of under-18s being served the ad, we concluded that the ad had been irresponsibly targeted.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.3 1.3 Marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society. (Social responsibility).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Crazy Maple Studio Inc t/a Chapters to ensure that their ads were socially responsible and did not cause serious or widespread offence, including by objectifying women. We also told them to ensure that their ads were responsibly targeted. We referred the matter to the CAP Compliance team.
