Advertising watchdog banned an ad that showed a male almost striking a female with a chair in a game for mobile phones.
Advertisers claimed they intended the advert to be funny, but Advertising Standards Agency determined that it was a trivialization of the sensitive topic of domestic violence and encouraged its condoning.
A video was shown in the app ad for Gold And Goblins. It featured a female playing on her smartphone while behind her, a man sat down and pulled a chair backwards over his head.
Advertising watchdog banned an ad that showed a man striking a woman using a chair to distract him from a game called Gold and Goblins.
The advertisement showed the man getting distracted by the game, and instead of hitting the woman with the chair, he watches as the woman continues playing, while the phone is placed over her shoulder.
Two women complained about the advertising, believing it encouraged domestic violence.
AppQuantum Publishing said they would immediately stop running the ad, seen in the Hooked Inc: Fishing Games and Quizzland apps in September, across all their platforms.
The ad was intended to be funny and they apologised for any offense it may have caused.
Following two complaints from the public, the ASA has banned this advertisement which was advertised for Gold and Goblins.
Lion Studios is the creator of Hooked Inc. Fishing Games. They allow third-party advertisers publish advertisements in their mobile apps games.
Lion Studios stated that they believe that advertisers and ad networks have the responsibility to make sure that advertisements comply with all applicable laws. They also took steps to stop ads from appearing in Lion Studios games.
Familia App Developers (the developer of Quizzland) stated that they have updated their settings in order to prevent similar ads appearing in future games.
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), stated that the ad showed a man about assault a woman. We thought that the consumers would be able to see from the context that her focus was on the game, not the man.
“We thought that such a reference in an advertisement for a mobile game app trivialized and condoned domestic violence.
“This was likely cause of serious and widespread offense and we thought the ad hadn’t been prepared in an ethical manner.
“We concluded that the advertisement violated the code.”