The UK's Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has banned an advert for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, featuring the Replacers taking over the jobs of airport security officers. It is believed the content of the advert "trivialized sexual violence," as per the ASA.
The advert, which can still be found on YouTube, features the Replacers (played by Peter Stormare and Nikki Glaser), taking over the roles of two airport security officers, who took the day to go and play the new Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. The parodic trailer shows the Replacers doing a pretty poor job, abusing their power to "manhandle" a passenger, and heavily insinuate an non-consensual assault through Stormare demanding the passenger take off his clothes, with Glaser then snapping on a glove and saying "it's time for the puppet show."
<social>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH1csdj8oMk</social>
The ad - which is for a game that came out months ago now - was previously approved by Clearcast, a review organisation that looks at ads broadcast in the UK. As per Game Developer, Clearcast did give the ad a timing restriction so it wouldn't be seen by a younger audience, but it was believed to have depicted a "deliberately implausible, parodic scenario that bore no resemblance to real airport security procedures."
Activision also defended the ad, saying it was for a title rated for adults and could therefore use humour targeted at a more adult audience. The ASA still received complaints from people who were not a fan of the implied sexual violence. There were also complaints saying it condoned drug use.
"Because the ad alluded to non-consensual penetration, and framed it as an entertaining scenario, we considered that the ad trivialized sexual violence and was therefore irresponsible and offensive," the ASA said. "On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Social responsibility) and 4.1 (Harm and offense)." The ad is no longer allowed to appear in its current form on broadcast media, but as Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is already out and about, we doubt there's going to be any major impact.