ASA blasts genealogy site and raunchy banner ad

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld complaints against a genealogy website and a clothing ad on a dating site, but has cleared Sony Computer Entertainment for the second time in eight days.

Clothing brand Blue Skin placed a banner advert on Faceparty.com which included the phrase 'Clothes that help you get laid'. 

The complainant objected that the ad was on a website used by teenagers, and the ASA's judgement agreed that it was "irresponsible".

Meanwhile, genealogy website Ancestry.co.uk was pulled up for a magazine advert which stated: 'Everything you'll ever need to research your family tree in one place'.
The complaint claimed that the advert was misleading because the site did not offer access to Scottish censuses, images, transcripts and copies of parish register records.

While the ASA upheld both of those complaints, it found that a further issue about the terms of the 'free access' offered was not misleading.

However, Sony dodged another bullet following two complaints about a television ad for 24 The Game on the Playstation 2. 

The advert featured computer-generated scenes similar in style to the 24 television programme on which it was based, with lead character Jack Bauer shown threatening a terrorist. 

The complaints claimed that the advert was misleading because the quality of the graphics was superior to the game itself and the scenes were not part of the game.

"The ASA understood that 'cut scenes', such as those shown in the ad, were standard in most computer games and we believed that viewers generally would be aware of this," said the ASA's ruling.

"While the cut scenes did have a cinematic look to them when compared with actual gameplay, we did not consider the quality was so different as to mislead or cause disappointment to consumers."