Mobile network Three has found itself up the creek without a paddle after an ad which mimicked The Blair Witch Project was sunk by the ad watchdog for targeting children.
The five-minute ad appeared on YouTube last August, and featured Jackson, Three’s puppet mascot, in a car with a man called Steve, driving into the woods to test to the new LG G4 handset.
The duo went on to experience a number of joke incidents, designed to give viewers a fright, including a doll that jumped at the car window, a dark figure by a campfire, and a child with black gunge drooling from her mouth, who crawled across a ceiling.
However, a number of parents failed to see the funny side, with the parent of one 12-year-old contacting the Advertising Standards Authority to complain that their child had become distressed after watching it. Two others parents complained that their kids – aged five and ten – had also been affected by clicking through from banner ads.
In its defence, Hutchison 3G UK, which owns Three, said it had voluntarily sought a classification for the ad from the British Board of Film Classification so no unsupervised children would be able to see it if parents used online browsing filters.
It pointed out that the ad included a warning at the start of the video, which stated: “WARNING. The following film contains scenes of a disturbing nature. Viewer discretion is advised. Restricted. Suitable for viewers aged 15 and over”, followed by the 15 rating film classification logo.
But the ASA dismissed Hutchison’s defence, ruling that there could be a risk younger viewers would continue to watch the ad regardless of the warning.
It stated: “We considered the ad’s prolonged and heightened sense of suspense was likely to cause undue fear and distress to children. We concluded the combination of the ad’s content, and the possibility that the warning would be ignored, meant that [it] was likely to cause distress to those younger viewers who saw it.”
It also berated the company for not limiting the targeting of the ad by insisting it was only served to YouTube users who were signed into accounts that declared they were over 15 years old.
However, the ad is still on YouTube under a 15 restriction. A Three spokesman said: “We are sorry that the ASA was freaked out by our spoof horror YouTube advert. However, we are pleased that the ASA agreed that we took a number of steps including consulting industry experts to ensure that the advertisement would only be viewed by an appropriate audience. We will take their comments on board for any future campaigns.”
Related stories
Horror show condemns Giffgaff ad
ASA gives demeaning and sexist email blitz the snip
Betting site slapped down by ASA for sexual tweet
Outdoor campaign goes tits up for grass company
Fat Bastard wine mailshot gets messy for Iceland
Explicit sex ad spanked for appearing on kids app
Wine firm’s taste the bush ad goes down very badly
Distasteful building supply firm ad given thumbs up
