ASA violence in advertising seminar

The ASA upheld complaints about this ad for Penguin books. 

Images of violence and aggression surround us everyday.  Guns, knives and conflict feature in news reports, computer games, TV shows and films.  Are such images appropriate for use in advertising media?

The debate

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) Chairman, Lord (Chris) Smith hosted a seminar in Nottingham on Wednesday 21 November that focussed on the issue of violent imagery in advertising. The timely event followed a significant increase in complaints to the ASA in this area during the past year.
As of November 2007 the ASA had received 1748 complaints about 523 ads that depicted or alluded to violence compared with 1054 complaints about 254 ads in 2006. Concerned by the increase in complaints, the ASA responded by inviting delegates who have a personal or professional concern about the use of violent imagery in advertising to have their say, give feedback to the ASA and learn more about how the ASA prevents harmful or offensive advertising from appearing.  

Debates on the day focussed on four categories of violence: the depiction of guns and knives, horror films, video games and general violence. The discussions explored whether violence is ever acceptable, for instance when used to highlight a good cause or if it can ever be depicted in a light-hearted way.

The ASA is responsible for ensuring advertising avoids causing harm or offence, with particular regard to protecting children. The issues raised at the seminar have been compiled into a report which has been sent to the ASA’s decision making Council to help when judging future complaints about violent ads.  To view the report click here.