The UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has banned a live action Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 after concluding it “trivialised sexual violence.”
The advert (which can still be viewed on YouTube) depicts two ‘replacers’—agents who take over the day jobs of people who would rather be playing Call of Duty—posing as airport security officers.
Both replacers are shown pulling aside a passenger, who is informed they have been “randomly selected to be manhandled.”
One officer takes a bottle of drugs from the passenger’s bag while licking her teeth and winking at her colleague. She is then known equipping a pair of rubber gloves while the passenger is told to remove his clothes.
The officer wearing the gloves then says “time for the puppet show.” A post-credit scene shows the man being told to bite down on a handheld metal detector because the officer wearing gloves is “going in dry.”
The advert was shown on YouTube and on demand services operated by Channel 5 and ITV.
Clearcast, an organization that reviews ads for broadcast in the UK, had approved the advertisement with an “ex-kids” timing restriction to ensure it would not be broadcast during or around children’s programming or content likely to appeal to under-16s.
According to the ASA, the ad was approved by Clearcast because it depicted a “deliberately implausible, parodic scenario that bore no resemblance to real airport security procedures.”
“While [Clearcast] accepted that some viewers may have found the ad to be distasteful, they felt that, on balance, it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence,” continued the ASA.
Activision Blizzard told to ensure its adverts are “socially responsible”
Activision, for its part, said the advert promoted an 18-rated title and was therefore targeted at adult audiences with a higher tolerance for “irreverent or exaggerated humour.”
Even so, the ASA received nine complaints from people who believed the advert trivialised sexual violence, while two other complainants claimed it condoned and encouraged drug use.
After review, the ASA acknowledged that most viewers would understand the advert was intended to be humorous, but noted the humour in the ad was “generated by the humiliation and implied threat of painful, non-consensual penetration of the man, an act associated with sexual violence.”
“Because the ad alluded to non-consensual penetration, and framed it as an entertaining scenario, we considered that the ad trivialised sexual violence and was therefore irresponsible and offensive,” continued the ASA.
“On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Social responsibility) and 4.1 (Harm and offence).”
As a result, the ASA said the advert must not appear again in its current form. “We told Activision Blizzard UK Ltd t/a Call of Duty to ensure that their ads were socially responsible and did not cause serious offence, for example by trivialising sexual violence,” it added.
The complaints relating to drug usage were not upheld by the ASA.