News
‘Shocking’ Eidos ad banned
Tim Ingham Apr 9 2008, 12:09pm
Comments (7)
Kane & Lynch promotion deemed ‘graphic’ and 'likely to be seen as glorifying violence' by ASA
The Advertising Standards Authority has outlawed an Eidos advertising campaign for Kane & Lynch.
The body has ordered Eidos not to print or broadcast the ads again, after upholding 26 complaints and calling the promotion 'graphic' and 'shocking'.
One press ad shows a gagged woman, crying and having her head held back by one of the pair. It was printed over a double-page spread in Edge, with a second version appearing in Total Film magazine.
The ASA said: 'The portrayal of violence it contained, with particular regard to the female hostage, was graphic and too shocking to be seen in an untargeted medium.'
Another Kane & Lynch poster held a quote from the Official Xbox 360 Magazine stating, 'Grittier and nastier in tone than anything you've seen before, the violence here is visceral, brutal and very, very real'.
The ASA said this version was 'likely to be seen as condoning and glorifying real violence', and was also irresponsible and 'likely to cause serious or widespread offence'.
The body ruled that both press ads were 'graphic and too shocking to be seen in any medium' and said they breached its code on responsible advertising, decency, violence and antisocial behaviour.
Complaints against a TV ad for the game were also upheld, with the ASA concluding that it breached its code on harm and offence, violence and cruelty and personal distress.
The ASA added: 'A "crunch" sound was heard as the butt of a rifle was brought down on what was suggested to be a victim's head and another in which a man with a bloodied face appeared to have his throat cut; which we considered were likely to cause offense and distress to viewers despite the animated treatment.'
In its defence, Eidos said the poster image was intended to be 'cinematic' but it was not their intention to cause offence. The publisher also pointed out that, although the print ad portrayed a kidnap scene from the game, the woman was unharmed despite the mouth gag.
The firm said the TV ad was also designed to be cinematic and because of the subject matter of the game, was "not ... overly violent".
Channel 4 and Channel Five, which broadcast the TV ad, apologised for any distress caused.
Comments
“er...?”
Posted by: Pantythief - Apr 9, 1:12pm
Isnt this a little late?
“Re: er...?”
Posted by: LordMonkey - Apr 9, 1:45pm
So the moral of the story here is that if you only require a short ad burst, you can basically get away with anything, as the ASA will only tell you it's not allowed, AFTER it's communicated its message.
“Re: er...?”
Posted: Apr 9, 1:51pm
Thankfully we don't have PEGI running the rule over EVERY marketing asset like the ESRB does in the US. So whack away until you get slapped on the wrist!
“Re: er...?”
Posted by: LordMonkey - Apr 9, 1:56pm
Oh, and what seems strange is that the ASA comes down on these Eidos product ads, yet still allows magazines such as all those lame, low quality 'me too' Imagine Publishing rags to run pages and pages of granny/***/S&M/etc... porn phone line adverts?
"But 70% of our readers are above 18!" I can hear Imagine retort.
Even though that just states that they're knowingly supplying porn-filled pages to the 30% that are kids.
Anyway, slightly off topic there, apologies.
“Re: er...?”
Posted by: John - Apr 9, 4:39pm
Funny how those adverts from the DVLA can get away with showing a boy head butting his mum to death from the back seat of their car and getting covered in blood and screaming. Shock is used to obviously highlight a serious point but those ads are on TV before 9pm and even a hardcore gamer like myself finds them a little strong.
“Re: er...?”
Posted: Apr 10, 11:06am
@5
Which is surely reasonable grounds to show them? Promoting safety is hardly comparable to advertising a product...
“Re: er...?”
Posted by: Rogue - Apr 10, 10:45pm
People are getting to much perverted... almost in every game you must kill something.. and the graphics looks more and more realistic.. zombies aliens "enemies" kill kill kill..
perverts -> gta series, kane and lynch, club,
Clive Barker's Undying, silent hill, resident evil and so on and so on..
P.S. countless games with violence, encourages and makes players enjoy killing in the game wont lead humanity towards good..