Ad description
An in-game ad for Temu seen on 11 February 2025 in the app Spider Solitaire Fun. The ad included a picture of a greetings card, on which text stated, “I’VE MET SOME CUNTS IN MY TIME, BUT YOU, MY FRIEND, ARE THE CUNTIEST HAPPY BIRTHDAY”.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.
Response
Whaleco UK Ltd t/a Temu stated that the ad did not reflect their usual standards of practice and was the result of an isolated incident caused by a temporary glitch in their screening process during a system upgrade for enhancing the screening process.
They said that the word “cunt” was already on their blocklist and would normally have been blocked automatically. However, the upgrade caused the product image (a birthday card) to bypass normal checks. They had since run a full system search to ensure no blocklisted terms were being used across other advertising channels.
They stated that the ad was served via Meta Audience Network and was chosen by Meta’s algorithm, rather than by Temu directly. They said the ad had been removed proactively before they were contacted by the ASA.
Temu emphasised their ongoing collaboration with the ASA and commitment to UK advertising compliance, including implementing more robust processes to avoid similar issues in future.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code required marketers to avoid causing serious or widespread offence.
The ad, for a birthday card, included the swear word “CUNTS” and “CUNTIEST” and appeared in a solitaire game app rated as being suitable for those aged four years and older. Consumer research by the ASA showed that use of words such as “CUNT” was so likely to offend that they should not be used at all in marketing communications. That was the case even if they were relevant to the product, unless very carefully targeted to an audience that was unlikely to be offended by them.
We acknowledged Temu’s commitment to collaborate with the ASA and their proactive removal of the ad, which appeared in error. However, we considered that “CUNT” was a particularly offensive swear word. We therefore concluded that its appearance in the untargeted medium of the solitaire game app was likely to cause both serious and widespread offence.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 4.1 (Harm and Offence).
Action
The ad should not appear again in the form complained of. We told Whaleco UK Ltd t/a Temu to ensure their ads did not cause serious or widespread offence, including by avoiding references to expletives.
