Lions Gate films under fire for inappropriately placed YouTube ad
Lions Gate has been issued with a warning by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after an inappropriate pre-roll ad on YouTube for its Dom Hemingway film appeared before a video connected with the film Despicable Me.
The video opened with the lead character Jude Law smashing a wall with a sledgehammer and shouting "Fuck you and fuck your cat."
Further scenes showed Law with white powder on his nose, punching a man in the face, a topless woman jumping into a swimming pool and Law swigging from a whiskey bottle.
Two complainants challenged whether the ad had been responsibly targeted because it appeared before videos which they believed would appeal to children.
Lions Gate UK stated that the ad had been restricted to those signed in as 18 or over and that it was targeted at those who had watched the theatrical trailer for Don Hemingway.
YouTube admitted that following an internal investigation the ad was in violation of their own advertising policy, and has been disapproved for future use.
The ASA said that the ad contained several instances of very strong language, including in the few seconds before the ad could be skipped, and brief scenes of violence, nudity and implied drug use.
The watchdog added: “We noted that one complainant had seen the ad before a video incorporating characters from 'Despicable Me', and that the other had seen it before a video featuring children dancing, and considered that the content of both would be likely to appeal to children.”
The ASA concluded that although Lions Gate had taken steps to ensure that the ad was targeted responsibly, it had ultimately not been targeted responsibly.
Although the campaign aired last year so has already ended, Lion's Gate UK has been warned that it must ensure all future ads were appropriately targeted.