‘Assassination Nation’ had its ads turned down by YouTube and Facebook

“Assassination Nation.”
Neon

• Ads for the new indie thriller “Assassination
  Nation” were rejected by YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram
  for their imagery, which included guns and women undressing,
  Variety reported. 
• The film’s production company, Neon, has also
  reportedly had trouble placing billboard ads for the
  movie.

The indie production company Neon has had a difficult time
promoting its new thriller, “Assassination Nation.”

Variety
reported that ads for “Assassination Nation” were rejected by
YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram due to their perceived explicit
content, which included imagery of guns and women
undressing. 

The film, which opens in select theaters Friday, follows a group
of teenage girls who seek out revenge (with guns) on an anonymous
hacker who has doxxed people in their hometown. It
stars Suki Waterhouse, Hari Nef, and Bella
Thorne.

YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram reportedly declined to host ads
and trailers for the film because they violated their terms of
use. One trailer featured a woman pulling her shirt up
to reveal a bra, and another showed the film’s protagonists
pointing guns at the camera (as in the above image).

Neon has also reportedly had trouble placing billboard ads for
the movie, including one that contained the words “Ass
Ass In Nation.”

“Every single out of home vendor in Los Angeles passed,”
Christian Parkes, Neon’s chief marketing officer, told Variety.
“They thought it was a political ad calling for violence or that
it was just plain offensive because it had the word ‘ass’ in
it.”

“We knew that this film was a stick of dynamite,” Parkes
added. “We didn’t want to dress it up into something it isn’t.
This isn’t a feel-good coming-of-age story. It’s an honest
meditation on where we are as a culture.”

“Assassination Nation” opens in 1,403 theaters on
Friday, and it’s tracking to bring in around $4 million,
according to
The Hollywood Reporter. The film has a 65%
“fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Watch a trailer for the film below: