MTV’s The Valleys ‘sexual’ ad banned
An ad for MTV’s Cardiff-based reality TV series The Valleys has been banned by the advertising regulator, which deemed the spot too “sexual” for broadcast in the early evening.
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The ad featured several scenes from the series including a woman bouncing on a sofa with her underwear visible, another women flexing her breasts in a low cut top, two women kissing, men and women kissing and a woman pulling up a man’s top and rubbing his torso.
It was cleared for broadcast by Clearcast with an “ex-kids restriction”, meaning it could not be shown around programmes made for children.
The clearing body felt the ad did not go any further in terms of real or implied sexual content than previous ads for similar reality programmes, especially because the visuals shown were of a “comic, slapstick nature”.
Complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about the ad, however, objected to the ad’s pre-9pm broadcast. They claimed the ad was “inappropriately” scheduled when children still might see its “sexual content”.
The ASA noted that while the ad did not contain any explicit nudity, it did include a number of shots that focused on breasts and a number of suggestive scenes that depicted a sexual element.
The watchdog ruled the ad was not suitable for broadcast before 7.30pm when younger children might be watching and banned the spot from appearing in its current form before this time restriction.
