ASA Bans 'Misleading' Final Fantasy TV Ad

18 Aug 2010 at 12:53:44 by Dave Gibbon

A TV advert for Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority for its misleading use of images.

The ASA said that footage from the PS3 version of the game was used to promote the Xbox 360 version and the ruling was announced after a viewer complained that “the ad was misleading because the game footage in the ad was from the PS3 version of the game, which was of better quality to that of the Xbox 360”.

The organisation that approves most British TV ads, Clearcast, said it was assured by Square Enix that there was no discernable difference between the two versions.

But the ASA, after examining both versions of the game, said: “Images from the PS3 version of the game were sharper than those on the Xbox 360. The PS3 image in video sequences appeared sharper and colours were more vivid.

“We considered that, because the ad promoted the game on the Xbox 360 platform, it should have featured footage derived from that console. Because it did not, and because we considered that the use of PS3 footage in the ad exaggerated the quality of the footage available on the Xbox 360, albeit marginally, we concluded the ad was misleading.”

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