The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has cleared Sony of any wrongdoing over a TV advertisement for Sony internet TV that showed two teams of children playing football in a stadium.


Some 56 viewers complained about a shot of a child spitting.


Sony responded that it regretted any offence caused and would carefully consider such matters in future campaigns. The company added that it had not been its intention to glamorise spitting but to make gentle fun of one of the less attractive aspects of the national game.


The ASA ruled: “Because the shot of the boy spitting was very brief and was shown in the context of a scenario that was clearly fantastical, as emphasised by the final scene of the boys playing in a yard, we considered it did not glamorise the act of spitting and did not encourage harmful emulation. We therefore concluded the ad was not in breach of the Code."