A promotional video from the marketing campaign for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has been banned from airing in the UK.
The British organization ASA, which is considered to be the authority on advertising standards there, made a decision to ban one of the advertising spots for the game Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. And that on the grounds that the advertisement trivializes sexual abuse.
The commercial is part of the now traditional marketing campaign “The Replacer” in which actors replace people at their workplaces so that they can play the new Call of Duty at home. The campaign was used in Black Ops 2, 3 and 4, returned in Black Ops 6 and continued with the week. But one spot was problematic for the British.
In it, the cast of Peter Stormare and Nikki Glaser pretend to be airport screening staff. In the screening procedure, a man is asked to undress and prepare for “dry” anal examination.
The British assessed the humor in the advertisement based on humiliation and threats of penetration without consentand the promotional video for the game is therefore negligent and offensive. Activision defended itself by explaining that the ad did not show any explicit content and that it was broadcast in a television program in an appropriate time slot for adults.