ASA upholds Eidos game ad complaints

The advertising regulator has upheld complaints against an ad campaign for an Eidos computer game featuring two mercenaries on a mission to recapture a kidnapped family.

The TV, press and poster campaign, which was developed in-house, for the Kane & Lynch game featured the two characters, with one of them holding a rifle. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 26 complaints against the campaign for breaching codes on decency, violence and anti-social behaviour and fear and distress. It has upheld complaints on all counts.

The TV ad showed the two characters shooting guns in a group of hostage and a voice-over says: “From the creators of Hitman comes Kane & Lynch… Lynch, a medicated psychopath and Kane a flawed mercenary.” The poster ad was headlined: “Kane & Lynch Dead Men” and featured the men with a gagged tear-stained woman.

The ASA has also upheld a complaint against Ryanair’s national press ad for its January sales because of its inability to ensure that the flights were available in sufficient quantities so there was a “reasonable prospect” of readers obtaining flights at the headline price on the advertised days.

The regulator has also referred the airline to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) due to its “consistent” refusal to comply with its codes.

A spokesman for the ASA says it has asked OFT to consider action against Ryanair under the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988. A statement from the regulator says that it has referred the airline after a catalogue of breaches of the Advertising Codes and its unwillingness to comply with ASA rulings.