Planet of Apes complaints shot down

A TV spot for Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, featuring a gun-totting primate shooting a man dead, has been cleared despite 119 complaints that it was “violent and distressing”.
The ad was screened on ITV during the World Cup semi-final at around 9.50pm – at a time when thousands of children were watching – as well as on YouTube.
It began with an ape approaching two men, one of whom pointed a gun at him. A second exchange showed the ape turning on the men, stealing an automatic weapon from one and shooting the other dead; the scene closed as gunfire resounded in the background.
But scores of football fans cried foul, with the majority of complainants believing the ad was inappropriate for children to see, while others reckoned the theme and content was unsuitable for juxtaposition with a mainstream sporting event. Meanwhile others said it was overly violent and distressing, and some claimed it irresponsibly condoned violence and firearm use.
In its defence, ITV said the ad was a one-off exclusive to promote the release of the film and to engage viewers through social media interaction. It said the film was rated 12A by the British Board of Film Classification, which suggested that a significant number of children were likely to see it, or had already seen it, in a cinema.
ITV also believed it was reasonable to schedule the ad during such a major sporting event, taking into account the post 9pm restriction and the time it actually screened at 9.50pm.
And in its ruling, the Advertising Standards Authority backed ITV. It stated: “While it was unfortunate that any distress was caused to younger viewers who did see the ad, we considered that the scheduling restriction in place, together with the time of broadcast, 9.50 pm, meant that it had been directed away from younger viewers.
“We acknowledged that some adults who were watching the semi-final had found the ad to be too graphic even for an adult audience who had chosen to watch a sporting event. ”
But, concluding that in view of the overall content and the brevity of the closing scene, viewers were unlikely to be distressed, the watchdog deemed not further action was necessary.

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