Melbourne parent complains billboard is offensive and reminds them of lockdown

A concerned parent has lodged an official complaint about a giant billboard in Melbourne, claiming the video game advert is offensive to Christians.

A parent has sparked backlash online after filing an official complaint about a giant Melbourne billboard advertising the hit video game Diablo 4.

The billboard features a horned woman - who is the fictional villain from the game - and the words “Welcome to hell Melbourne”.

It is understood the same advertisement was used in Brisbane with that city’s name.

The 43-year-old complainant said the billboard pictured the “devil” and was offensive to them as a Christian parent as it promoted “evil and satanic paraphernalia”.

A Melbourne parent lodged an official complaint about this billboard. Picture: Ad Standards Community Panel

They further claimed the imagery was inappropriate for children who could see the billboard located beside a busy freeway, and said it caused their own children to have nightmares.

“I feel it’s inappropriate to show such disgusting and disturbing content on a billboard where children are seeing this on a daily basis. It has no context and for an adult of 43, I found it unsettling,” the complaint read.

“It’s scary for young children who see it, but even as an adult it brought back memories of the hell of the two years of lockdowns in Melbourne.

“The language and words used are not necessary to get across the message about the release of this game.”

The complainant said the billboard was offensive to Christians, gave their kids nightmares and reminded them of “the hell” of lockdown. Picture: Ad Standards Community Panel

The advertiser, Activision Blizzard, defended the billboard saying it did not depict or promote the devil.

“The ‘Welcome to Hell’ refers to a fictional location that a person will visit as part of the gameplay in their quest to defeat the fictional villain portrayed in the ads,” the US-based company said.

“Given the punctuation, it does not state or imply that Brisbane or Melbourne is ‘hell’ and as such is not derogatory to these cities, or any of their inhabitants.”

The Ad Standards Community Panel, which is responsible for reviewing and assessing complaints from the Australian community about ads, dismissed the complaint as it did not breach the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) code of ethics.

A screenshot of the complaint was shared to Reddit, where users were mostly unsympathetic to the parent’s concerns.

“These types of people make the world a sad, boring place,” wrote one.

“I had nightmares about trains as a kid, does that mean we should ban trains?” joked another.

“Do I get to complain about Christian advertising if it offends my atheist beliefs,” asked a third.

A complaint about a JILA Mints TV ad was one of many complaints dismissed by the panel in June. Picture: Ad Standards Community Panel

Most complaints reviewed by the panel last month were dismissed.

One Australian complained about a photo selling bonds underwear on the Best&Less website, which they claimed showed “a young female’s pubic hair visible above the waistband”.

Best&Less “disagreed” it was pubic hair and rather “some body hair below her naval”.

Another person complained that a TV ad for JILA Mints depicted bullying and harassment.

The ad shows people in the stands watching a sports game. One man calls a player a wimp and the older man next to him offers him a mint. After taking it, he is quiet.

The advertiser, Ferndale Confectionery, said it was remake of a TV ad from about 20 years ago.

“No complaint was ever received in regard to the original version, but Ferndale Confectionery recognises that community standards may have changed,” the company said, but maintained the ad did not encourage bullying.

“The advertisement deliberately depicts the spectators in the vicinity of the unruly spectator finding his verbose communications unwelcome and that he is behaving poorly.”

Two ads were pulled by advertisers in June after complaints were upheld by the panel.

One was an on-demand TV ad for the comedy horror film Renfield during MasterChef. Two separate complaints were received about the violence shown.

The other ad pulled was an Athena radio ad where a fictional bank representative with a fake New Zealand accent tells a customer repeatedly they are “fuxed” – meaning their home loan rate is “fixed” but sounding like “f***ed”. The complaintant said the ad was played on the radio at school pick up time.

Athena said it conducted an internal review of its advertising processes and protocols following the panel’s determination to “prevent similar issues from arising in the future”.