A TV ad for horror movie The Nun II was taken off air after receiving complaints that the horror scenes were too violent.
The advertisement had four versions across on-demand and free-to-air TV, each ad had a high level of tension due to the music choice, the dark imagery, fleeting scenes and one ad showed an under 18 girl grabbed around the head by an unseen person.
The ad received two complaints, both raised concerns that the 'demonic' imagery who inappropriate for TV.
"The Block is a prime time family friendly show, horror movie adds are not appropriate in this time slot. I ask - would you like your 12 year old to be confronted of images of a demonic Nun? It's horrible and has no benefit for our society," one complaint said.
"It scared the children before bed time. Featured demonic horror scenes that wouldn't be appropriate for children let alone for us as adults. It was disgusting!"
"We were watching a family friendly show at a family friendly time and this ad was graphic, scary and entirely inappropriate - considering what we were watching on-demand was a lighthearted comedy show that typically airs at 7.30pm," another complaint said.
"The ratings of both of these shows is mismatched (we were watching an on demand show rated M; this horror film is rated R). Adding to this, the ad was not shown once but was shown as the first ad for every single ad break while we watched - meaning it would have come on about 6-8 times.
"Due to the function of on demand watching, I could not turn it off or skip - I had to yell at my kids to quickly close their eyes and speak over the top of the sound-track. I realise that given the hour of day, there aren't PG requirements but surely it should align with the program being watched."
'THE NUN II' official trailer via YouTube.
Universal Pictures, on behalf of WARNER BROS and media agency EssenceMediacom, said the companies are careful with the planning and selection of the TV schedule to ensure the intended 18+ audience group is met.
Before going live, the ad and TVC spots were approved by Commercials Advice Board and PEACH.
While these approvals allowed the ad to be broadcast from 8.30pm onwards, the complainants advised that they viewed the advertisement during The Block which does start at 7.30pm but the advertisements were places after 8.30pm.
Overall, the Ad Standards panel found that all versions of the ads contained a level of menace that may be considered violence by some members of the community and therefore did breach Section 2.3 (violence) of the Code.
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