One upset viewer said the ad for the film The Black Phone, starring Ethan Hawke, came on while the family was eating dinner at about 7pm and was "incredibly scary and disturbing".
"I understand advertising for movies like this later on in the evening but so early when young children are still awake is horrible... There should be a screen that displays a warning before something so mature and disturbing plays," the parent said in a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
That person was one of seven parents unhappy with the Universal Pictures NZ television ad, which ran until the company stopped it in July after being alerted to the complaints by the ASA.
In its recently-released decision, the board said the ad contained adult content likely to cause fear and distress in some viewers and found it breached a code of practice requiring advertisers to be socially responsible.
Universal said the ad reflected the context of the film - a supernatural thriller with numerous scary and suspenseful scenes. The ad was given an M rating by the Commercial Approval Bureau (CAB) and care was taken in selecting appropriate TV advertising spots.
M-rated ads can only be played at times or during programmes where parental guidance is recommended - after 7.30 pm or during programming aimed at a non-child audience.
As the boy in the basement tries to escape, a disconnected black phone starts ringing and delivers menacing messages when he answers it.
Text interspersed among the ad imagery reads: "If you haven't heard of the black phone you soon will".
The board said the realistic nature of the ad exacerbated the issue of an appropriate viewing audience.
The complainants' said their children - aged 7 to 12 – were exposed to the ad when it aired between 6pm and 8.30pm during various programmes, including Location, Location, Location; netball coverage on Sky Sports, Master Chef, and the sports section of a TVNZ 6pm news bulletin.
TVNZ said the ad was not broadcast on TV at the times specified. It appeared those people must have been viewing through the live streaming or On Demand platforms, which target user log-in profiles.
"Sales reviewed the content of the ad before it screened and applied a post 8pm restriction for on television plays," TVNZ said.
Sky Sport said the viewing audience of netball coverage, in which the ad complained about aired, was predominantly aged 18 or over.
The board said the ad should not have been rated an M and warranted a higher level of protection.
"The negative reaction of viewing the images in the trailer was not something that could easily be mitigated by a parent's or caregiver's presence," the board said.
"Although OnDemand/Live Streaming platforms serve advertisements based on the age of the profile holder, advertisers and media need to be conscious that in reality, children do view content through adult accounts. As such, when the content required it, overlaying additional protection with the use of tools such as time targeting advertisements could be employed," the board said.
More care was needed to protect vulnerable audiences from viewing scenes from an R16 film, the board said.
Other comments by complainants included, "My son, 7, got very scared and distressed. These should not be played at these times or if timing these adverts isn't possible, users should be able to select advert ratings to avoid these adverts coming up".
Another complainant said, "My 10-year-old son was watching the sports news with us. He was horrified."
The board also received two complaints about digital billboard and bus shelter poster advertisements for the film, but did not uphold those. It found the image used on them - one of Hawke in character as the abductor wearing a top hat and grey horror mask with an exaggerated smile - would not cause fear or distress to most people since it featured in isolation from other imagery.
-By Sarah Curtis
