Ad description
A promoted post on Twitter for King of Avalon, a computer game brand, seen on 5 September 2017, which featured the text, “My friends wouldn’t stop recommending this game to me. Eventually I gave in and now I can’t stop …” A still image of the game was featured below the tweet with a link to play the game, accompanied by the text “King of Avalon: Dragon Warfare”.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad misleadingly used imagery from a different game.
Response
Funplus Interactive t/a King of Avalon stated that they had asked their agencies to stop using the ads and believed the ads had been removed.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would understand from the ad that the image featured was from the advertised game, King of Avalon: Dragon Warfare.
We understood, however, that the image was actually from the game, Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord. We therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code Edition 12 rule 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. Misleading advertising).
Action
The ad must not appear in its current form. We told Funplus Interactive to ensure that they used imagery which reflected the actual gameplay in their advertising.
