Ad description
An ad for the mobile app game Stormshot: Isle of Adventure, seen in the mobile app game Hill Climb Racing 2 on 7 October 2023, featured a dark room with a man approaching whilst carrying a torch. He shone the torch in a young woman’s face. She was lying in bed, her hands were gripping the top of her covers and she had a frightened look on her face. The scene then cut to him lifting up her skirt, revealing her bare legs. A voice-over and on-screen text stated “The drunk soldier slowly approached the girl, lifted up her skirt and then started to play Stormshot”. The ad then cut to scenes of animated gameplay from Stormshot.
Issue
The complainant, who believed that the ad trivialised and condoned sexual assault against women, challenged whether it was irresponsible, offensive and harmful.
Response
FunPlus International AG t/a FunPlus Interactive said the ad had been published during the period 21 September to 14 October 2023 via Facebook Ads in third-party apps selected by the Facebook algorithm. Publication was limited to the age-restricted category 18+ only. The ad was not published in any other media or platform.
As soon as they became aware of the ad they ensured it was immediately withdrawn on 14 October 2023. They said they would not publish the ad, or similar content, in future. They had provided additional training to staff and external agencies on their internal policies, which incorporated complying with the CAP Code, including rules regarding social responsibility and harm and offence.
Fingersoft, publishers of the Hill Climb Racing 2 app in which the ad was seen, explained that it had inadvertently got through their pre-inspection measures. They also had measures in place to take action when a player reported an ad using their in-game support form, but that relied on the form being submitted soon after the ad had appeared and before the campaign had been turned off by another publisher or the ad network. They said they would block FunPlus Interactive's ads from appearing in their games in future if there was any indication that those ads featured similar content.
Assessment
Upheld
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. It also required that ads must contain nothing that is likely to condone or encourage violence or anti-social behaviour and must not include gender stereotypes in a way that is likely to cause harm.
The ad had been published in the Hill Climb Racing 2 game app, which had a rating of being suitable for everyone and therefore was likely to be seen by children as well as adults.
The opening scene of the ad featured a man emerging from the darkness and approaching a woman in bed. She was gripping the covers and looked distressed as he shone a torch at her. The scene then cut to him lifting up her skirt, revealing her bare legs. The voice-over and on-screen text stated “The drunk soldier slowly approached the girl, lifted up her skirt and then started to play Stormshot”. The ASA considered that the mood of the ad was dark and threatening. Although the final part of the voice-over and on-screen text stated that the man then played Stormshot, we considered consumers would interpret the ad as suggesting the man was going to sexually assault the woman without her consent and the only thing to distract him and stop him from doing so was by playing Stormshot, a video game. We considered that by implying an act of sexual violence was going to take place and that it was only interrupted because of the man’s greater desire to play the game, the ad trivialised and condoned sexual assault and sexual violence. By presenting the woman as an object of sexual gratification in that way the ad also included a gender stereotype, which was likely to cause harm. We concluded the ad was likely to cause serious and widespread offence in any medium in which it appeared, that it had not been prepared in a socially responsible manner and therefore breached the Code.
We welcomed FunPlus Interactive’s assurance that they would not publish the ad or similar content in future.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Responsible advertising), 4.1, 4.4 and 4.9 (Harm and offence).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told FunPlus International AG t/a FunPlus Interactive to ensure future ads were prepared responsibly, did not contain harmful gender stereotypes, and did not contain scenes which trivialised or condoned sexual assault or sexual violence and which were likely to cause serious or widespread offence.
