The UK's Advertising Standards Authority has prohibited the airing of a commercial for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, citing concerns over its depiction of sexual violence in a manner deemed trivializing

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the United Kingdom has prohibited a commercial for "Call of Duty: Black Ops 7" on the grounds that it trivialized sexual violence.

The advertisement, shown on Video on Demand and YouTube, featured fictional airport security personnel conducting checks, as the actual staff were portrayed as "off playing the new Call of Duty: Black Ops 7."

In the ad, a male passenger faced "randomly being selected to be manhandled," while a female officer was depicted licking her teeth as she picked up and shook a prescription container, then showed it to a male colleague who winked back. The male passenger was ultimately instructed to strip, with the warning "she's going in dry."

According to a report by the BBC, the ASA received nine complaints stating that the ad trivialized "sexual violence," invoking a scene that implied humiliation and non-consensual penetration.

Activision Blizzard defended the ad by highlighting the game's 18+ rating and noted that the ad aired during an "ex-kids" schedule. They described the ad as a "deliberately implausible, parodic scenario," aimed at humor rather than harm. However, the ASA aligned with the complaints and decided to discontinue the ad in its existing form.

Though two complaints suggested the advert condoned drug use, the ASA dismissed them, concluding that the ad was unlikely to be viewed as promoting drug use and was therefore not irresponsible on that account.

The ASA's verdict stated, "The ad must not appear again in its current form. We advised Activision Blizzard UK Ltd, trading as Call of Duty, to ensure that their advertisements were socially responsible and did not cause serious offense, specifically by trivializing sexual violence."