Black Ops 7 Ad Has Just Been Banned

The United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority has banned a Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 advert that first aired in November 2025, stating that it trivialises sexual violence. The Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 advert, which can no longer be shown in the United Kingdom, received eleven complaints in total. Nine of these individuals believed the ad trivialised sexual violence, while the other two complainants said that the advert encouraged or condoned drug use.

Despite being one of the biggest video game series of all time, publisher Activision still extensively markets new Call of Duty titles year after year. For the Black Ops subseries, developed by Treyarch Studios, a popular series of live-action adverts featuring The Replacer, a character portrayed by actor Peter Stormare, often accompanies each new release. These adverts have been part of the Black Ops promotional campaigns for all but one entry, Black Ops Cold War, and feature a team of Replacers taking over certain job roles for individuals, usually so they can go and play the latest Black Ops game.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Ad Banned in the UK

The launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 last year once again saw Peter Stormare return as The Replacer in a series of adverts that also featured Terry Crews and Nikki Glaser. However, one advert in particular has now been deemed inappropriate by the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority. As reported by the BBC, the advertising regulator has said the ‘Airport Security’ trailer for Black Ops 7 must not appear again in its current form. The advert received eleven complaints in total, many of which believed it trivialised sexual violence.

Like many other Call of Duty Replacer adverts, this one saw The Replacer and his team take over airport security while the actual employees went off to play Black Ops 7. During the trailer, Stormare’s Replacer can be heard telling an individual, “You’ve been randomly selected to be manhandled – face the wall!” before turning the man around and saying, “I’m gonna need you to remove your clothes, everything but the shoes.” The camera then cuts to Glaser’s Replacer, who puts on a glove and says, “Time for the puppet show.” A post-credit scene also features The Replacer telling the individual, “Bite down on this, she’s going in dry.”

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When approached by the Advertising Standards Authority, Activision defended the advert, noting that Black Ops 7 is an 18-rated video game targeted at a mature audience. The publisher therefore believes that the intended audience for the advert has a higher tolerance for irreverent or exaggerated humour. According to the ASA’s ruling, Activision says the advert depicted a deliberately implausible, parodic scenario that bore no resemblance to real airport security procedures. The publisher then listed numerous elements of the advert that they believed portrayed The Replacers as “incompetent impostors,” which viewers would interpret as comedic rather than as a realistic or accurate situation. As for the complaints regarding sexual references, Activision said the ad does not sexualise the act of performing searches but was instead joking at the expense of the man’s “discomfort.”

Call of Duty recently released its big Season 2 update for Black Ops 7 and Warzone, which once again added tons of new content to both titles. Multiplayer fans have three brand-new maps to jump into, as well as a remastered version of Slums from Black Ops 2. The new season also brought about Ranked Play for Black Ops 7, a bunch of new modes, and more. Warzone players can also check out a new version of Rebirth Island, with even more content set to come to both games as part of Season 2 Reloaded in a few weeks’ time.