Advertising Watchdog Clamps Down On Emap Ad

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) fielded complaints against Emap Metro’s ad for its Kerrang! publication in Playstation Plus magazine. The watchdog supported the complaints for the ad, which showed four words spelt out in British sign language with a reference key at the bottom to translate the letters. The sentence transpired to read ‘Turn it fucking down’. The regulator ruled that the use of bad language in this instance was likely to cause serious or widespread offence. The advert was withdrawn and Emap Metro was asked not to use that approach again.

ITV was criticised for its ads run in the Times and the Daily Mail for the television series The Bill. Complainants were concerned that the imagery used in the ad – which showed a man with his arm around the throat of a distressed woman – was too violent, and likely to be offensive and shocking. The ASA however, did not believe that the ad would cause wide-spread offence, and that it was in keeping with the programme’s content.

National press adverts for the new iMAC computer also caused concern to some. The ad claimed that the iMAC was so easy to use, it just needed ‘one click, and hello internet’. The ASA did not uphold complaints that the ad exaggerated the ease of connecting to the internet.

Advertising Standards Authority: 0171 580 5555