Complaints against Hitman’s Attack of the Saints ad gets rejected by ASA

By: Muhammad Qasim Hassan

  |   October 3rd, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

There had been a huge uproar over Hitman’s Attack of the Saints trailer that depicted PVC-clad nuns with guns getting killed by Agent 47, the main protagonist of the game.

A complaint was filed against the ad because of the alleged glamorisation o f violence, particularly against women, and also the sexist portrayal of women.

UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), however, has rejected the complaints and cleared the controversial ad.

ASA acknowledged that Hitman’s Attack of the Saints trailer did contain plenty of graphical violence and that too against nuns clad in outfits that did portray them as hyper-sexualised stereotypes, both of which were distressing and offensive.

However, it concluded that Square Enix had done its job of placing the video behind an appropriate age gate, thus acting responsibly by restricting the trailer to viewers above the age of 18.

Publisher Square Enix had clarified to the ASA in a statement that it disagreed with the allegation that the ad condoned violence against women or anyone for that matter, while also mentioning that it was“ homage to the B-movie ‘Tarantino-esque’ genre of comic book filmmaking.”

The cinematic teaser trailer produced by the publisher’s CGI studio Visual Works was uploaded on YouTube on May 29, 2012. Despite the video starting off with the warning that the content was not appropriate for viewers under the age of 18, it was not enough to keep the controversy from sparking.

The social media, which included Twitter and Facebook, was flooded with criticism targeted at the Hitman: Absolution makers, accusing them of going overboard with the violence and also portraying women in such a demeaning manner.

The reaction was quite understandable as Visual Works had made a bold move of putting nuns in sexy attire and handed them guns and rocket launchers as they arrived at the motel where Agent 47 was staying.

The events that followed seemed straight out of a Hollywood film, with the bald assassin rising to the occasion and taking the nuns out one by one. Blood, death and women was bound to become controversial and that is exactly what happened.

Square Enix later conceded that the females shown in the trailer were former colleagues of Agent 47 and thus assassins themselves. They had been sent to take out their former comrade and everything that the main protagonist did was in self-defence.

It contended that at no stage in the ad was it suggested that Agent 47 was taking pleasure in killing his assailants and this was emphasised even more when he closed the eyes of one of the women he had killed, thus showing respect.

Hitman: Absolution is the fifth title in the popular stealth game franchise and is slated for a November 20, 2012, release for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.