Newsline thinks it has discovered the best (or worst) ad targeting fail of the year, with a few naked women and sexually explicit propositions found lurking around the children’s app ‘My Talking Tom’.
Affairalert.com has landed itself in hot water with the Advertising Standards Association this week after placing two sexually ‘inappropriate’ ads within the app, which were seen by two considerably underage children.
The first included a selfie of a naked woman sitting in front of a mirror with her breasts exposed but hand placed modestly over her crotch, with the words ‘Wanna fuck?’ written in lipstick on the mirror. Text above the image stated ‘Want to fuck her?’ and the options ‘YES’, ‘MAYBE’ and ‘NO’ stated below.
The second ad featured another selfie of a naked woman standing in front of a mirror, in profile, with her face cropped but breasts on show and with the same romantic text overlaid.
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The ads were brought to the attention of the ASA by two complainants, whose seven and three year-old children had been using the app at the time the ads appeared.
Plymouth Associates, the advertiser responsible, claimed that they had no role in placing or commissioning either of the ads, and that they believe a third party, without their knowledge or consent, “might have found a temporary means of exploiting the app by inserting malicious ad code”.
However, Plymouth Associates said that they were “unable to determine” the third party responsible.
Outfit7 Ltd, which operates the ‘My Talking Tom’ app, said that although their apps are not directed at children, they work hard to make sure they are “family friendly” and to “ensure inappropriate ads are filtered out”, but also admitted the possibility of technical malfunctions and human error.
In its response, the ASA said that Plymouth Associates were responsible for the material and for ensuring that it was compliant with the Code.
“We considered that the sexually explicit content of the ads and the product they promoted meant that they should not appear in media which might be seen by children,” the ASA stated.
“We considered that the ‘My Talking Tom’ app, in which the ads had appeared, would be of particular appeal to children. We acknowledged that Plymouth Associates had procedures in place that were intended to prevent their ads appearing in apps or websites that could appeal to, or were targeted at under 18s.”
The ASA ruled that Plymouth Associates must ensure that their ads are targeted appropriately in future and do not appear in apps that are played by children.
Newsline ruled that it probably won’t be assigning its advertising to Plymouth Associates any time soon.
