UK ASA bans Xbox 360 ad for promoting reckless driving
A Microsoft ad for the Xbox 360 was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of UK for supposedly promoting and glamorizing dangerous driving.
The ad in question showed a car chase on a rooftop and the streets, where in the end the actors congratulated each other. According to ASA, “We were concerned that the ad gave the impression that reckless street car racing was exciting and fun, and considered that was compounded by the congratulations offered to the other driver at the end of the race by the other young men involved.” Because of this, the TV ad will be barred from being shown on UK TV on the grounds of “breaching rules on health and safety and driving standards.”
Microsoft, however, has stated that they were particularly cautious with the treatment of the ad, saying that they were keen on avoiding misconceptions regarding the message of the commercial. In fact, they even had the caveat through an on-screen text explicitly stating that the stunts being shown were conducted in a controlled environment and that the cars never broke the speed limits.
ASA insists, though, that “the text reinforced the sense that the events in the ad were real, rather than fantasy, and were therefore capable of being copied.”
Update: We finally found a copy of the Microsoft advertisement “Cops and Robbers” on YouTube, uploaded by xboxscene. Here it is. (Thanks, code2006 for showing us where to find this vid!)
A Microsoft ad for the Xbox 360 was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of UK for supposedly promoting and glamorizing dangerous driving.
The ad in question showed a car chase on a rooftop and the streets, where in the end the actors congratulated each other. According to ASA, “We were concerned that the ad gave the impression that reckless street car racing was exciting and fun, and considered that was compounded by the congratulations offered to the other driver at the end of the race by the other young men involved.” Because of this, the TV ad will be barred from being shown on UK TV on the grounds of “breaching rules on health and safety and driving standards.”
Microsoft, however, has stated that they were particularly cautious with the treatment of the ad, saying that they were keen on avoiding misconceptions regarding the message of the commercial. In fact, they even had the caveat through an on-screen text explicitly stating that the stunts being shown were conducted in a controlled environment and that the cars never broke the speed limits.
ASA insists, though, that “the text reinforced the sense that the events in the ad were real, rather than fantasy, and were therefore capable of being copied.”
Update: We finally found a copy of the Microsoft advertisement “Cops and Robbers” on YouTube, uploaded by xboxscene. Here it is. (Thanks, code2006 for showing us where to find this vid!)
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