An advert shown during Britain’s Got Talent and before a 12A-rated film has been cleared despite scores of complaints that its sexual references unsuitable for children.
The first of the two TV and cinema ads for music streaming service Spotify, seen between April 28 and May 13, showed a son singing along to a song at the family dinner table before his mother said: ‘What he doesn’t know is that he was made to this song. In this room. On this table.’
The second showed a teenage girl standing outside a closed bedroom door, saying: ‘Yep. Bieber’s ‘Love Yourself’. I think we all know what’s going on in there.’
One controversial advert, which was shown during Saturday night’s episode of Britain’s Got Talent, shows a teenage girl placing a speaker playing Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself outside a locked bedroom door
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 81 complaints, raising one or more issues.
There were 64 complaints about the first ad, mostly from people who saw it during Britain’s Got Talent and Take Me Out.
Complainants said it was offensive and unsuitable to be broadcast during programmes watched by children.
Another 18 complainants believed the second ad was offensive and unsuitable to be broadcast to children because it implied the person in the bedroom was performing a sex act.
The girl looks at the camera and says: ‘Yep, Bieber’s Love Yourself. I think we all know what’s going on in there’
There were two complaints about the first ad screened in the cinema before the film Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2, claiming that it was unsuitable to be shown to an audience likely to include children.
Spotify said each ad used ‘mild and subtle sexual innuendo in a discreet and tongue-in-cheek manner’, and were unlikely to be noticed or understood by children.
It said its request to buy airtime during Britain’s Got Talent and Take Me Out was reviewed and approved by ad clearance agency Clearcast on the basis that neither programme was commissioned for, nor principally targeted at, children.
Clearcast said the ads were approved with ‘ex-children’ restrictions, which meant they must not be shown in or around programmes made for, specifically targeted at, or likely to be of particular appeal to children.
ITV said the audience indices for Britain’s Got Talent and Take Me Out showed that the proportion of child viewers for both programmes was significantly below the threshold at which they would be considered to be appealing particularly to children.
ITV said the ads were ‘mischievous, mildly suggestive, humorous and tongue-in-cheek’ but did not feature any overt sexual reference or depiction.
Spotify said the cinema ad might at worst cause mild awkwardness or embarrassment for children or their parents, but it was not likely to result in the physical, mental or moral harm of any children viewing it.
A 12A rated film allows children under 12 in the audience if they are accompanied by an adult.
Clearing the ad for broadcast, the ASA acknowledged that both ads contained implied sexual references.
It said: ‘We considered, however, that the references were not explicit and were unlikely to be understood by young children.’
It noted that Clearcast had imposed a scheduling restriction to prevent the ads being broadcast in or adjacent to programmes commissioned for, principally directed at or likely to appeal to children, adding: ‘We therefore concluded that the ads were not offensive or unsuitable to be broadcast in breaks in those programmes at those times.’