In 2007, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the body that regulates online ads and virals on paid-for spaces, recorded a significant increase in the number of complaints about violent imagery in online ads from the previous year.
Just last week, an online marketing campaign was pulled from the internet after concerns about the violent nature of its content. The promotion, for Universal Pictures film 'Untraceable', included visceral scenes of violence, including the torture, abduction and killing of a "member" of Seesmic, the online community the video was posted on.
Building up excitement and controversy to help promote a film is nothing new, but by creating something so aggressive begs the question -- is the online promotion of films and games going too far?
Richard Spalding, CEO of Kontraband, the popular distribution site, said they do take more liberties than TV and radio ads as there are fewer regulations. But he believes they have not yet pushed the boundaries to the maximum.
He thinks complaints arise when advertising promoters try to generate publicity simply by using shock tactics.
Spalding said: "People see through these quite quickly. You will cut a better resonance if you are creative as opposed to just being shocking.
"Sometimes advertising producers tend to go too over the top and I think this is when complaints are made. If they try to do shock tactics for shock's sake, they tend to get pulled apart quite quickly."
Dan Light, head of interactive at the Picture Production Company (PPC), the agency that created the 'Untraceable' campaign, said it was provocative because it suited the nature of the film.
He added the agency was not out to make anyone feel uncomfortable: "We were trying to be respectful of the online community while at the same time we try to deliver content in a compelling, innovative, creative and ambitious way."
Light said the agency wanted to push the boundaries of what is acceptable in an online community: "There's that interesting question of whether people are desentised to things on screen."
The reason why it was pulled from Seesmic -- after one of the site's moderators mistook it for real-life torture and threatened to involve the authorities -- suggests people are still sensitive.
Last Christmas a marketing campaign for computer game 'Mortal Kombat' was banned for this very reason. Although the websites it was posted onto were designed for 18- to 40-year-olds, the actual nature of the ad, which included decapitation and a man ripping the heart out of another man's chest, was considered too shocking. The ASA decided it condoned and glorified violence.
Spalding highlighted the importance of targeted advertising, saying: "I think it's really irresponsible when violent advertising deliberately targets the wrong people."
Unquestionably, when promoting horror films and games, violence is intrinsic to its subject matter and therefore necessary to accurately advertise the product. Yet because of attitudes and the desire to protect children, there is a huge onus on advertisers and media owners to consider public sensitivities before showing potentially offensive material and avoid crossing the line of acceptability. Often the placement of an ad can determine how it will be received by members of the public, therefore context is key.
A good example of a targeted film campaign was with Lions Gate Entertainment film, 'Hostel' (2006). The film represented a new wave of horror movie where graphic film making and a highly controversial subject matter took the power to shock to the extreme. Director Eli Roth was vocal about his desire to horrify audiences with graphic violence and the online campaign reflected this. Its aim was to feed controversy while minimising potential negative word of mouth, according to marketing communications agency Spinnaker, which created the campaign.
To achieve this, Spinnaker developed a strategy targeted to a specific over-18 audience. This included a viral marketing push to viral sites and horror forums, as well as magazine websites like Kerrang!, NME and Bizarre.
Speaking to Revolution UK, Natalie Wilkie, account director, said: "It was crucial to find a balance between strong explicit footage to appeal to our target audience, while being sensitive to the wider online community."
The ASA currently only regulates a limited range of new media ads, such as banners, and not the website destinations that the ads drive traffic to as these are seen as "editorial" and thus out of their remit.
Ralph Daniel, from media agency The 7 Stars, agrees the ASA is necessary to prevent ads from pushing the boundaries too far and thinks more should be done: "On a creative level I don't think any form of censorial behaviour is a good thing. However, if you're asking me whether there should be more security and legislation against children having access to such things, then my answer would be completely different. These adverts have the right to exist but who they are exposed to should be carefully legislated."
However, Spalding disagrees, believing it is up to the advertisers themselves to regulate what they post: "The immediacy of reactions online is very effective. Company reputations can almost immediately be compounded by discussions on forums and blogs, so brands tend to regulate themselves so this doesn't happen."
To prevent ads causing fear and distress in the future, the ASA aims to bring in a full internet regulation standard. By doing this, it hopes to strike a balance between protecting the public from advertising that may cause harm and offence while giving advertisers freedom and avoiding acting as moral arbiter, according to their website ().
Christopher Graham, director-general of the ASA highlighted the importance of this when he spoke at the Westminster eForum on new media a year ago. He said the new media industry needs to work with the ASA to develop a self-regulatory system, which will guarantee action will be taken if an offensive ad arises: "If the ASA is like a referee with yellow and red cards, there has to be a proper backstop or there will be no enforcing our ruling."
So maybe in the future we will see less gruesome campaigns, but until then careful where you click.