'Irresponsible and Offensive:' Call of Duty Ads Banned in the UK for Normalising Sexual Violence

Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty ad was pulled from UK screens after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled it trivialised sexual violence.

In November 2025, a flashy spot for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 flashed all over YouTube, ITV, and Channel 5. The mock airport security line is shown in the footage.

A man is told to 'strip down' to 'everything but the shoes,' and a female officer puts on gloves, saying, 'Time for the puppet show.' The advertisement is done in the pretence that 'real' officers are too busy playing the game, and 'replacers' take over. The viewing audience was left flummoxed and angry.

Nine people wrote to the ASA expressing the opinion that the spot was irresponsible and offensive.

One viewer, a Birmingham mum, said she felt 'appalled' when she saw the clip as she was scrolling through her phone. Another working at a local airport called the ad 'a cheap insult to everyone who's ever had to go through security.'

Their complaints concerned the non-consensual and humiliating nature of the search shown.

Activision's defense and decision

Activision Blizzard UK Ltd argued the campaign was aimed only at adults, as the game is 18-rated. The company stated that the ad had been cleared by Clearcast, a pre-approval body, and that the ad was subject to an 'ex-kids' timing restriction.

Activision insisted the scene was a deliberately absurd parody, and not a realistic depiction of airport checks. They added that the humour was not the result of sexualisation, but was a result of discomfort.

'Even if some viewers did infer innuendo, it did not contain explicit content or objectifying imagery,' the firm said.

ASA deemed the ad 'trivialised sexual violence' because it implied a non-reviewed, invasive search. Though there was never any explicit imagery the man was not naked and the humour was based on implied threat of painful penetration.

The ruling says the advert is 'irresponsible and offensive' and should not be displayed again in the same form. A second complaint about a scene including a container of prescription pills with a wink was dismissed.

Not the first controversial ad with COD

This is not Activision's first brush with the regulator.

In 2012, a spot for the game 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3' that called for armed men to fire at a lorry was banned for daytime viewing because the violent imagery was inappropriate for children.

The repeated clashes illustrate the thin line publishers tread between edgy marketing and social responsibility to society.

Activision is likely to amend the ad, removing the worst aspects of it or also to a more restricted portion of the public.

The ASA's ruling is a warning to other game publishers: humour that borders on sexual violence will not be tolerated. The debate rages on across the internet with players divided between their love of the brand and concern for the message.

For the time being, the ad rests on a digital shelf, a reminder that even the promotion of a game can be used as a source of national dialogue about what is acceptable in advertising.