Sony 'spitting' ad escapes ban

The advertising watchdog has cleared an ad by Sony featuring a young boy copying footballers by spitting on the ground, despite almost 60 complaints that it was offensive and antisocial. Sony Europe's TV campaign, developed by ad agency Anomaly, featured two teams of children playing football in a packed stadium. One boy was seen spitting on the field during a sequence of play. The ad ran between matches at this year's World Cup in South Africa. The Advertising Standards Authority received 56 complaints that the shot of the child spitting was offensive and that the ad risked causing "harmful emulation of antisocial behaviour because it glamorised the act of spitting". Sony said that it would "carefully consider" depicting such images in future campaigns. The technology firm added that it was not the intention to glamorise spitting, but to "make gentle fun of one of the less attractive aspects of the national game". Clearcast , the body which vets scripts for ads before they are produced, said it was "surprised" at the number of complaints received. In Clearcast's view, the ad would not cause "harmful emulation" because it was a "brief portrayal of a well-worn habit" that appeared "between World Cup matches where players were likely to be shown spitting". The ASA admitted that the spitting scene may have been "distasteful" to some viewers, but said that it was very brief and appeared in an ad where youngsters were pretending to be professional footballers. In its ruling the regulator said that the ad was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence and that it did not glamorise the act of spitting. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".