Background
Summary of Council decision:
Three issues were investigated, all of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A pre-roll ad on YouTube for Planet Woo’s “Life in Love with Layla & Wolf” web series, seen before a video on the Pilates and Yoga with Katja channel on 8 July 2022, began with someone smoking and blowing smoke into their partner’s mouth. Another shot depicted that partner naked from behind, dancing with their buttocks blurred out. The ad then cut to a scene of the couple flicking though photographs, visible on-screen, that variously depicted a naked woman from behind standing next to a mirror against a padded wall with her buttocks protruding towards the camera, a topless woman from the back kissing a man in a bra, the back and buttocks of a topless woman wearing nude pink sheer tights, and a woman in netted leggings crouched on all fours against a mirror. In reaction, the partner was heard repeatedly saying the photos were “Fucking amazing”, before stating “Bring your camera to the dungeon today”. Another scene depicted the photographer positioning a female model, wearing bunny ears and body-con patent lingerie with stockings and suspenders, on all fours in such a way that her buttocks were slightly angled towards the video camera. Superimposed text that stated “this platform has asked us not to show this content watch wolf & layla’s story uncensored at planetwoo.co” was included in the ad’s penultimate shot.
Issue
The complainant, who believed the ad was sexually explicit and noted it featured swearing, challenged whether the ad:
1. was offensive; and
2. had been irresponsibly targeted.
3. They also challenged whether the depiction of smoking in the ad was irresponsible.
Response
1 & 2. Planet Woo Ltd said that they had wanted the ad to provide an honest and accurate representation of the editorial content of the advertised web series. They believed the ad was unlikely to cause offence on the basis they had taken all reasonable steps to ensure it was appropriately targeted. The ad was targeted to exclude users in the absence of a signed-in YouTube or Google account and was only served to signed-in users registered as over 18 years of age. Within that group, the ad’s appearance was further restricted to only those users whose viewing history related to a list of keywords that included “Transgender rights”, “Sex positive”, “Sex advice”, “Sex”, “Drag race”, “Relationships”, “Love”, “LGBT”, and “Gender Expression” and other similar keywords. Planet Woo said those keywords were chosen on the basis of their belief that they would be sufficient to select an audience interested in content related to queer relationships. They believed that this audience would find the advertised web series appealing, and would not be offended by the ad.
They also provided a spreadsheet that broke down all impressions that resulted from the pre-roll ad’s placement as on YouTube. It listed every video the ad had appeared before, as well as the number of times it had been viewed there. Planet Woo highlighted that the ad had only been viewed once on the Pilates and Yoga with Katja channel. They also stated that none of the channels listed would particularly appeal to children, and that, in general, the channels were very adult focused.
They added that they had asked the agency who placed the ad on their behalf to take it down.
3. Planet Woo did not believe that the ad’s inclusion of a scene from the series that depicted smoking encouraged smoking in any way.
Google confirmed that the ad was served through Google Ads, a self-administered system. They said they had found the ad to be in breach of their own policies, and had taken steps to prevent it from being served again.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The ad was for a factual web series and one of the first scenes depicted someone naked from behind, dancing with their buttocks blurred out. It also featured a photograph of a naked woman standing in a pose that exaggerated her buttocks, and several other photographs of partially nude subjects in sexually suggestive poses and attire. The photographs appeared only briefly, were slightly out of focus, and only visible on the photographer’s laptop screen in wider shots. However, the ASA considered that their being the subject of the couple’s discussion called viewers’ attention to them. The ad also featured extended shots of a woman in bunny ears and lingerie, posing as the photographer’s subject, on all fours with her buttocks angled slightly towards the camera. Additionally, the dialogue included “bring your camera to the dungeon today”, which we considered viewers would understand as an allusion to explicit sexual activity. The ad was therefore overtly sexual and explicit from the outset.
We acknowledged that the advertised web series explored themes of sex positivity and openness, and that viewers interested in those themes were unlikely to be offended by the ad. However, because the ad was overtly sexual and explicit we considered it was likely to cause serious and widespread offence to a general audience if it was not very carefully targeted. Viewers who were not familiar with the advertised show and who had not been warned of the adult content of the ad were particularly likely to be offended.
The ad also included swearing. Two of the three occurrences of “fucking” in the ad were used in the context of someone enthusiastically praising their partner, while the other was used to express disgust at something splattered on the pavement. We acknowledged the swear word was unlikely to cause the equivalent high levels of offence likely if the same word was used in a derogatory way. However, we considered that, regardless of context, the word “fucking” was likely to cause serious and widespread offence to a general audience.
We considered that, in principle, suitable targeting measures in an appropriate medium could be used to minimise the risk of sexual content and swearing in ads causing serious or widespread offence to an adult audience. However, we considered viewers of an instructional yoga video would not expect to be served an ad with nudity, explicit sexual content, and strong language in this medium, regardless of their other interests. Some of the keywords used in targeting the ad, including “Love” and “Relationships”, were very general, widely used terms that could feature in range of videos unrelated to the show’s themes. On that basis, we considered the keywords were unlikely to be sufficient to exclude the audience the advertiser had intended to exclude.
In line with that, we noted that the spreadsheet reflected that the ad had been seen before videos on a wide range of channels with subject matter that included music, politics, gaming, exercise and nature. There was a total of around 36,000 channels listed and many saw only a very small number of impressions and/or views. Whilst many of those channels were likely to appeal specifically to adults, we did not consider that viewers of those channels would have expected to have been served an ad of this nature before unrelated content.
We concluded that, in the context and media in which it had appeared, the ad was likely to cause serious and widespread offence.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule
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.
(Harm and offence).
2. Upheld
In light of the ad’s use of profane language and explicit sexual references, we also considered that it should have been appropriately targeted to avoid the risk of children seeing it.
We were concerned that the spreadsheet provided by the advertiser showed the ad was served on a number of channels which were likely to have significant child and family audiences. For example, the ad was served on a number of channels dedicated to Minecraft, as well as a number of channels which stated they were dedicated to family friendly content such as ‘Dad V Girls’ (which featured ‘family challenges’), Rebecca Zamolo (‘fun and family friendly content’), Kids Fun TV and Tic Tac Toy Family. We noted the targeting exclusions and keywords used by Planet Woo. However, those exclusions had proved insufficient to prevent the ad from being seen around channels which were likely to include a child audience.
We therefore concluded that the ad had been irresponsibly targeted.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.3 1.3 Marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society. (Social Responsibility).
3. Upheld
We also considered that the ad’s opening shots of the couple smoking, moving to music under party lights and blowing smoke into each other’s mouths, glamorised smoking and presented it in an appealing manner. While we acknowledged that the scene reflected the editorial content of the advertised show, we considered that, in the context of its appearance in an ad, its inclusion condoned and encouraged smoking. Because of that, we concluded that the ad’s depiction of smoking was irresponsible, regardless of targeting or the medium in which it appeared.
On that point the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.3 1.3 Marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society. (Social Responsibility).
Action
We told Planet Woo Ltd to ensure their ads were socially responsible and did not encourage smoking. We also told them to take care to avoid causing serious or widespread offence by, for example, avoiding featuring swearing and nudity in media likely to include a child audience, and to ensure their ads were appropriately targeted.
