The UK's Advertising Standards Authority has ordered Mobile Strike developer MZ to take down one of its ads due to accusations that it was objectifying women.

The ad in question features two women in bikinis playing the game on sun loungers. A third woman then walks into the scene in slow-motion, also playing the game.

MZ responded to the complaint by arguing that the ad used plus-size models to show "real-sized" women playing the game in order to invoke imagery of Amazonian warriors and superhero Wonder Woman.

It also claimed that had the ad not used "real-sized" women, it wouldn't have received any complaints. MZ states that it had previously received support for its portrayal of women in the ad.

Sexually-charged

The ASA however upheld its ruling that the ad was offensive. It argued that the imagery was "sexually-charged" and focused on the women's bodies more than it did Mobile Strike.

To that end, MZ has been ordered to never show it again in the UK and told that future ads should take greater care to avoid objectifying women.

The ad is no longer available on the Mobile Strike YouTube account, though the agency behind it, All Good Things Network, still hosts the video on its account.

Losing one commercial for Mobile Strike is unlikely to harm its sales. MZ is still one of the top developers for ad spend, having spent $9.6 million on just three ads shown on TV in February 2017.