October 21, 2019

Taking Ofcom’s research on offensive language into account, CAP says that there are some words that struggle to be justified outside of very specifically targeted media, most notably “the ‘F’ word” and “the ‘C’ word”. The ASA previously upheld a complaint about a mug with “UNT” printed on it, which, in conjunction with the black C-shaped handle, visibly spelt out “the ‘C’ word”. The ASA considered that the use of this word, viewed by many as a very strong expletive, in an untargeted medium was unacceptable.

Milder swear words, such as “damn”, “bloody” etc, could potentially be considered acceptable in certain contexts, for instance when used in a positive light (e.g. “A bloody good time!”) in a medium that is targeted at adults.

Having said that, swearing is always a contentious issue, CAP says, and the acceptability of any word will differ between cultures, ages and individuals. This means that anyone looking to use a word or phrase, even in a light-hearted way, must consider the context and their audience very carefully to avoid causing offence.

The words do not actually have to be said to break the rules. In the past, advertisers have mimicked the sound or the spelling of an offensive word in their ads to mixed results. One example is Booking.com, who used the word “booking” in place of the word “f…ing” (for example, “Look at that booking view!”). Booking.com responded to the complaint stating that it had not used any swear words in the ad, and the ASA agreed that not only was the word “booking” related to their business, the word was sufficiently distinct from the actual swear word that viewers were unlikely to confuse the two.

In contrast, however, back in 2011, The Sofa King fell foul of the rules by saying its prices were “Sofa King low”, which the ASA considered sounded sufficiently like “so f…ing low” to cause offence.

CAP warns that obscuring the word also might not be enough. A complaint about an ad that stated “ever thought about f****** working” appearing in untargeted media at the side of roads was upheld by the ASA when it considered that it was likely to be seen as referring to a swear word that many would find offensive, given that the audience would not be able to appreciate the word the advertiser was actually going for, which was “flexible”.

Further, CAP says, context and medium both play a key role. One ad for a bed company called Bedworld used the pun “ship the bed” to refer to their free shipping (“You can ship the bed right here”). After investigation, the ASA concluded that the play on words was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence, but it should still have been scheduled away from children.

However, targeting exclusively at adults does not guarantee acceptability. Spotify targeted specific users who had listened to Lily Allen previously or to similar music when it sent an email notification for a song called “F… You”. Whilst the ASA acknowledged that it was the name of a song, it considered that the email recipients were unlikely to anticipate receiving seriously offensive language in a communication from an online music service. It therefore upheld the complaint. To read CAP’s advice in full and for links to the ASA decisions referred to, click here.