An advert in a men’s magazine seeking adult movie extras breached the advertiser’s code of conduct because the advertiser, Xtreme Red, did not clarify that it was a recruiter and did not supply its full name and contact details.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint about the advert, headed ‘Act out your fantasises, on film, earn big bucks, adult extras needed now’ and ruled that it must not appear again in its present form.

The ASA also found that:

• The advert was likely to mislead as it did not make clear that significant financial outlay would be required by the applicant, whether for guarantees for film shoots as the complainant said he had been told, or for marketing and advertising on the Xtreme Red website, as alleged by the advertiser.
• Xtreme Red was asked by the ASA to send evidence that they had placed respondents to their ad in adult movies and that they had produced marketing and advertising materials for the complainant on their website in return for the monies he had paid as well as a copy of the terms and conditions provided to respondents to the ad. The firm failed do so. The ASA ruled that Xtreme Red had not demonstrated that the advertised work was available or that the employment opportunities offered were genuine and concluded the ad was dishonest and misleading on those grounds.
• As the phone numbers contained in the ad were premium rate numbers and their costs were not detailed, the ASA concluded the ad breached the Code on that point.