Watchdog Group Finds Spooky Spotify Ad Is Too Scary For Kids, Causes ‘Distress’

A British advertising watchdog group ruled on Wednesday that the Spotify horror ad is “likely to cause undue distress to childre

Chester Bennington Original Source/Screenshot by NPR / Chester Bennington

Halloween is exactly two weeks away but Spotify launched a campaign to scare people back in June. Unfortunately, for the music-streaming company, their efforts were too frightening.

On Wednesday, a British advertising watchdog group ruled that a minute-long Spotify advertisement featuring Camila Cabello’s “Havana” and a creepy, self-animated harlequin-type doll, is way too spooky for kids.

The ad opens with a group of teenagers — inexplicably living in a gargantuan and lavish house — easing into their morning routine. A yawning girl asks, “Can we play the wake-up playlist?” And the first catchy notes of Cabello’s song start playing. The tune is so seductive that it awakens the aforementioned doll, which begins to stalk (and presumably kill) the attractive young people in the house one by one.