Call of Duty advert banned for trivialising sexual violence

31 minutes agoLaura CressTechnology reporter

Treyarch & Raven Software & Activision

An advert for a Call of Duty game has been banned by the UK’s advertising regulator for trivialising sexual violence.

The commercial for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 featured fake officers at an airport security check – as the real ones were too busy playing the game.

Viewers complained the video, which included a man being told to strip down while an officer put on gloves and said “time for the puppet show”, was “irresponsible and offensive”.

Gaming company Activision Blizzard UK Ltd said the ad promoted the 18-rated video game and was therefore targeted at adult audiences only, who had a higher tolerance for irreverent or exaggerated humour.

The spot ran on YouTube and video on demand services, including ITV and Channel 5, in November 2025.

It was one of several used to promote the latest game in the Call of Duty series.

The campaign featured the idea that replacements had to step into different job roles, because the original staff were playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 instead.

The ad in question featured an airport security setting, with one actor explaining they were the “replacers”.

A man was then told he had been randomly selected “to be manhandled” before being told to remove his clothes down to “everything but the shoes”, while the female officer put on a pair of gloves.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received complaints from nine viewers who believed the ad trivialised sexual violence.

NBC via Getty Images

Activision Blizzard UK Ltd said the ad had been reviewed by Clearcast, which provides pre-clearance of TV advertising, and had been approved with an “ex-kids” timing restriction.

It added it was not broadcast during or around children’s programming or content likely to appeal to under-16s.

The company claimed it depicted a deliberately implausible, parodic scenario that bore no resemblance to real airport security procedures.

According to the firm, the ad in question did not sexualise the act of performing searches – and that the humour referred to discomfort rather than sex.

It added that even if some viewers inferred innuendo, it did not contain explicit content or objectifying imagery.

‘Irresponsible and offensive’

The ASA said the story included a non-consensual, invasive search of a man passing through airport security.

However, it acknowledged the video did not include explicit imagery and the man remained clothed for its duration.

But the watchdog noted the humour was “generated by the humiliation and implied threat of painful, non-consensual penetration of the man”.

The ASA concluded that the advert trivialised sexual violence and was therefore irresponsible and offensive.

It therefore ruled the ad must not appear again in its current form.

Two further complainants also questioned whether the ad encouraged or condoned drug use, due to a scene where the replacement officers picked up a prescription medication container and winked.

This complaint was not upheld by the ASA.

It is not the first time an advert for the video game series has been banned.

In 2012 an advert for Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 which showed armed men firing at a lorry was given a daytime ban by the ASA for scenes of violence and destruction which were “inappropriate” for young children.

Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world’s top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.