THE FIRM - 'HEAD ON PLATE' HORROR FILM ADVERT COMPLAINTS REJECTED

Complaints over the promotional campaign for horror movie Saw IV have been knocked back by the UK advertising watchdog.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said, despite 57 complaints, the film's adverts were "unlikely to be considered explicitly horrific and unlikely to cause offence or distress".

In the adverts, which were displayed on the side of buses and in newspapers and magazines, Saw IV actor Peter Tobin's head was shown in a metal dish alongside the caption: "You think it is over but the games have just begun."

Some adverts also included the message: "Saw IV – It's a trap."

Thirty-eight complainants said the bus adverts could be seen by vulnerable children, while others criticised their presence in the Daily Star, Odeon Magazine, the Evening Standard, Metro and websites Faceparty and MySpace.

The film's producer Lionsgate admitted there was a "possibility" a minority of the general public would find the film and its advertising campaign distasteful.

But the firm insisted the adverts had been "tongue in cheek" and only deployed in publications usually read by people over 18.

When contacted by the ASA, Express Newspapers said it had "no objection" to the advert, while MySpace claimed 86 per cent of its audience was over 18.