A television commercial from Paramount Pictures promoting the film Scream VI has been removed for breaching AANA's code of ethics 2.3 violence, played at a time when children can view it.
While the advertiser restricted the campaign to serve only M/MA programs during the day-time or from 9 pm – 3 am. According to the advertiser, there was an initial failure on 9Now’s part in setting up the restrictions. As a result, a child saw the violent ad at 5:30pm.
This TV-on-demand advertisement features excerpts from the movie 'Scream 6'. The advertisement starts with a person in a 'Ghost Face' mask chasing two woman into a convenience store. He then stabs the store clerk in the stomach, before approaching the women. The store clerk shoots at Ghost Face, who then hits him, grabs the gun and shoots the clerk.
The other scene of particular concern is someone jumping through or being thrown through, a display case, with Ghost Face appearing on the other side with knives in either hand. Ghost Face then jumps towards a woman.
The complaint submitted to Ad Standards said:
"It was an inappropriate time of day (5.30 pm) to show a scary movie trailer I was watching escape to the chateau with my 8 year old daughter and the adverts came on. The movie advert for Scream came on.
"The advert had far too much of the violence in the movie and she screamed and I had to cover her face as I tried to turn off the television quickly (she disinterested finish watching the advert obviously but I did) I was horrified that an advert with this much graphic violence was on television.
"It is very scary and inappropriate to be on family tv channels during the day. After a certain time then it is acceptable, but not when I'm at home during the day watching tv with my children."
In response Paramount's media buyer said:
"I can confirm we have targeting protocols setup to only appear against M/MA programming between 6 am and 9 pm. This activity was only targeted at M/MA.
"On 30th of January Network Nine flagged an instance where placement fell outside M/MA programming on 9Now and confirmed that they had resolved the issue and targeting was in line with the booked plan. Nine and partner, Finecast have confirmed all targeting and classification parameters continue to be in place."
The Ad Standards panel believe that the overall effect of the ad shows a high level of threat and shocking menace. While the use of violent images was relevant to the product being advertised, the advertiser could and should have chosen to shorten or show fewer of the scenes. Especially at a time when children can view the advertisement.
The advertiser did not provide a response to the upheld determination. However it removed the advertisement.
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