Bully ad complaints dismissed by ASA

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jul 9th 2008 at 3:28PM }

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority has dismissed complaints that a television ad for Bully Scholarship Edition trivialized bullying. The agency said that although some might find the game's content and name in poor taste, the content of the ad was "unlikely to cause serious or widespread offense."

It's funny that the ASA would take the stance that the Bully ads wouldn't cause "widespread offense" when it received a total of 31 complaints. Comparably, the banned ad for Kane & Lynch only received 26 complaints. The extra complaints isn't exactly surprising; remember that the original PS2 version of Bully actually changed its name to Canis Canem Edit when it was released in Europe.

Tags: ads, advertising, asa, bully, bully-scholarship-edition, canis-canem-edit

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Titanium_Orchid @ Jul 9th 2008 4:03PM

This just in: UK crime rates skyrocket as millions report lunch money related muggings and racially motivated wedgies.

When asked about the rise in crime, local constable Samuel Wells said "This recent crime wave is intolerable. Just yesterday my mum wa dragged off and given a swirly by some young hooligans. I blame video games for this disaster!"

Titanium_Orchid @ Jul 9th 2008 4:04PM

my mum *was dragged off

Targus @ Jul 9th 2008 4:33PM

I don't understand... in the game you actually defend the weaker kids against the "real" bullies. Isn't that noble?

Titanium_Orchid @ Jul 9th 2008 4:39PM

You are correct sir. BUT...

You must understand that the people who filed these complaints are only basing their opinions on a flickering image that they saw on a screen for ~30 seconds. Not the actual product.

zeldazeppelin @ Jul 9th 2008 8:21PM

man what a fail i own bully for Wii and you are helping kids and not actually bulling them so why the complaints. It seem the people in the UK just don't like video games.

zeldazeppelin @ Jul 9th 2008 8:22PM

joystiq plz fix the commenting system b/c I always have to double post

John @ Jul 10th 2008 1:48AM

Anyone else find all the media attention bullying gets lame?

What ever happened to the days of your father sitting down with you and giving you the "son you need to stand up to a bully" speech.

Now these pussies cry to CNN when someone hassles them at school.