The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2026
A Singapore novel app ran an in-game ad that romanticised abuse — the ASA banned it
GoodNovel's 'The Alpha's contract' ad ran inside a word game via AppLovin, depicting a beaten, starving servant. The ASA banned it for condoning violence.
Singapore New Reading Technology · 2026-07-01
What happened
GoodNovel, a serialised fiction app operated by Singapore-based Singapore New Reading Technology, buys users programmatically: its ads are served through bidding platforms such as AppLovin into mobile apps and games. In April 2026 one such ad, for a story called 'The Alpha's contract', appeared inside the word game Connect Word.
The ad paired an image of a restrained woman with first-person text in which a household servant is struck, spat at and locked up without food, framed as romantic fiction. The ASA ruled the ad condoned violence, subordination and coercive control, reinforced the harmful stereotype of women as submissive and tolerant of mistreatment, and was likely to cause serious and widespread offence.
On 1 July 2026 the ASA upheld the complaint under CAP rules 1.3, 4.1, 4.4 and 4.9; the ad must not appear again. The ruling reached a Singapore-registered advertiser through the programmatic chain — the ASA regulates whatever lands on a UK screen, whoever bought the slot.
Why it happened
- Programmatic buying placed shock-value creative inside a casual puzzle game — the slot was bid on automatically, and nobody checked what the creative actually did.
- Abuse framed as romance crossed the harm-and-offence rules: condoning coercive control is a breach even when what is being sold is fiction.
- Distance is no shield — a Singapore entity with no UK office is still the advertiser of record for what UK users see inside their games.
The lesson
Programmatic slots carry the advertiser's liability, not the game's: GoodNovel's in-game ad was judged in London though bought from Singapore. Vet every creative.
Aftermath
The ASA told Singapore New Reading Technology to ensure future ads are socially responsible and do not condone violence or harmful gender stereotypes. For the fast-growing web-fiction app category, the ruling marked that UK ad rules reach in-game inventory wherever the advertiser sits.
Sources
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