Moshi Monsters blames ‘communication breakdown’ for targeting sales at children
Moshi Monsters, the popular online game, has been removed from an advertising ‘blacklist’ by the ASA after parent firm Mind Candy vowed to stop targeting subscription sales at children and claiming it had only done so as a result of a ‘communication breakdown’.
It follows the ASA’s decision to ‘name and shame’ the company on its website for failing to abide by its social responsibility code in its marketing activities.
For its part Mind Candy said it was ‘disappointed’ to have been blacklisted and moved to comply with the UK advertising code within ‘hours’.
Mind Candy founder Michael Acton Smith said: “At Mind Candy we take our responsibilities very seriously with regards to how we communicate with all of our fans, especially children,
“After the initial findings by the ASA we believed we had resolved any issues raised with regards to the website, however there were further elements that the ASA were unhappy with but a breakdown in communication meant that we were completely unaware of the additional requests.
“We have now spoken with the ASA and resolved the issues and they have taken down the notice of non-compliance.”
Had Mind Candy not done so the ASA reserved the right to run an ‘anti-Moshi Monsters’ campaign on digital media to highlight the company’s failures and ban it from using paid for search advertising.