ASA batters Kane & Lynch ads for "glorifying violence"

The Advertising Standards Agency has ordered Eidos to not print or broadcast a Kane & Lynch campaign again after it received 26 complaints, according to this MCV piece.

One ad - showing a gagged woman, crying and having her head held back by one of the pair - was printed over a double-page spread in Edge, with a second version appearing in Total Film.

The ASA said: "The portrayal of violence it contained, with particular regard to the female hostage, was graphic and too shocking to be seen in an untargeted medium."

On poster also got the campaign into hot water, carrying an OXM quote saying, "Grittier and nastier in tone than anything you've seen before, the violence here is visceral, brutal and very, very real."

The ASA said this version was "likely to be seen as condoning and glorifying real violence", and was also irresponsible and "likely to cause serious or widespread offence."

We said, "Whoops."