Ad description
An ad for a mobile app game called Save the Bro was seen in October 2022 whilst playing the game Pixel Demolish. The ad consisted of a short cartoon of the game’s main male character with a female character.
The male cartoon character was depicted wearing a Spiderman costume without the mask and swung into view using his spider webs. In front of him a female cartoon character was tethered to the wall in a starfish shape with her arms and legs splayed. The female cartoon character was wearing a pink bikini top and tight green leggings which were ripped.
A thought bubble with a red heart inside appeared above the male character’s head when he saw the woman and he shouted, “Yahoo-oo” and threw his arms in the air in excitement. Two boxes appeared which he could choose from, the first was of the girl’s face and the second was of her leggings. In the two boxes, the spider web was seen pointing directly towards the parts of the woman’s body, forming a phallic shape. The woman screamed and wording appeared near her stating, “Not the Face!”. He struck the girl’s leg with webs from his spider shooters at which point her trousers disappeared to reveal white underpants. He shouted, “Yahoo-oo” again. Another visual choice then popped up in boxes at the bottom of the screen, this time offering the choice between the girl’s bikini top and her underpants (again with the spider web pointing towards them in a phallic shape) and wording then appeared at the top of screen stating, “Now your turn”.
Issue
The complainant who believed that the ad was sexist, objectified women and encouraged sexual assault, challenged whether it was irresponsible, offensive and harmful.
Response
The advertiser Brightika Inc and publisher Rollic Games did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Brightika Inc’s 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.
The CAP Code required that ads must not cause serious or widespread offence and must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society.
The ad depicted a cartoon woman tethered to a wall whilst the male Spiderman style character took pleasure in removing items of her clothing with his spider webs. We considered the way in which the female character was depicted, including her tight, ripped clothing, the fact that she was tied up and her clothing removed by the male character leaving her in a bikini top and underpants, were sexual in nature. We also considered that her facial expressions, struggling movements and her words of protest (“Not the face!”) meant she appeared to be in distress. We considered the actions of the male character who threw his hands in the air in excitement shouting “Yahoo-oo” when he saw the woman before removing her clothing, were also sexual in nature. In addition, spider webs in phallic shapes appeared on-screen when the viewer was asked to choose between the woman’s bikini top or underpants ("Now your turn”). We considered the actions carried out by the male character were serious and amounted to a depiction of sexual assault.
We considered that viewers would interpret the ad as depicting the woman as a stereotypical sexual object who was tied up against her will and was a victim, and that the ad appeared to present that scenario with the purpose of titillating viewers and could encourage or normalise sexual assault.
We therefore concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious and widespread offence, included a gender stereotype in a way that was likely to cause harm, and was socially irresponsible.
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) and
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).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained about. We told Brightika Inc to ensure that their ads were socially responsible and did not cause serious or widespread offence, including by objectifying women or presenting gender stereotypes in a way that was likely to cause harm. We told them that they must not depict any scenes which featured or implied non-consensual sexual acts. We referred the matter to CAP's Compliance team.
