The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has deemed Spotify’s “Havana” ad too scary for TV. 
 
 Filmed like a horror movie, the one-minute spot features a couple who love Camila Cabello’s “Havana” so much, they play it repeatedly. There’s just one problem: a demonic-looking doll also loves the song. In true horror fashion, each time the couple play “Havana”, the doll gets just a little closer, leading to the ultimate fright. 
 
 “It’s only a song,” the male character says in the spot, which first debuted on YouTube in July with the tagline, “Killer songs you can’t resist”. 
 
 RELATED: Camila Cabello Teams Up With Bazzi For ‘Beautiful’ Music Video Shot In New Orleans 
 
 Unfortunately for Spotify, the ASA didn’t think it was only about the song, ruling the setting and themes were the stuff of nightmares for children. 
 
 “The fact that the ad was set inside a home, including a bedtime setting, and featured a doll, meant it was particularly likely to cause distress to children who saw it,” the ruling reads. 
 
 “We acknowledge the ruling from the ASA and regret any distress the ad may have caused the complainant,” Spotify said in response to the ruling. 
 
 Earlier this year, the ASA called for ads for the horror movie “The Nun” to be removed from YouTube for their scare factor. ||||| A spooky new Spotify commercial advertising "killer songs you can't resist" has been banned from UK television after the country’s Advertising Standards Authority deemed it distressing and too scary. 
 
 In the ad, a woman is haunted by a terrifying eyeless doll every time Camila Cabello's hit song "Havana" is played. However, due to its irresistibility as a "great song with its catchy melody and sing-along lyrics," the woman can't convince her friends to stop listening to it in order to escape the demon. 
 
 "We acknowledge the ruling from the ASA and regret any distress the ad may have caused the complainant," a Spotify spokesperson said of the ad. "It was created as a tongue-in-cheek horror parody – intended to be a humorous ad that demonstrated just how catchy some tracks can be. We take our responsibilities as a marketer very seriously and continue to be mindful of the ASA's guidance on the effective and appropriate targeting of advertising campaigns." 
 
 Watch the commercial below. ||||| Rating is available when the video has been rented. 
 
 This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. ||||| Watchdog Group Finds Spooky Spotify Ad Is Too Scary For Kids, Causes 'Distress' 
 
 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. 
 
 Spotify Horror Ad YouTube 
 
 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. 
 
 In 60 seconds, the ad manages to showcase a medley of horror film tropes: a maniacal children's toy, a long and dark hallway, a young woman screaming in terror, and a startling over-the-shoulder apparition in a steamy mirror. 
 
 The final shots of the ad include the doll's face alongside the tagline: "Killer songs you can't resist." 
 
 After an extensive analysis of the commercial published on Wednesday, the Advertising Standards Authority, concluded that while it was clearly a spoof of the horror film genre, it was "likely to cause undue distress to children." 
 
 "In particular, the ad contained scenes that had tense sound effects and imagery similar to a horror film including the implied threat of violence. The fact the ad was set inside the home, including a bedtime setting, and featured a doll, meant it was particularly likely to cause distress to children who saw it," the ASA said. 
 
 The organization concluded that it "did not consider that the context of the ad justified the distress." 
 
 In an emailed statement to NPR, a Spotify spokesperson said: 
 
 "We acknowledge the ruling from the ASA and regret any distress the ad may have caused the complainant. It was created as a tongue-in-cheek horror parody – intended to be a humorous ad that demonstrated just how catchy some tracks can be. We take our responsibilities as a marketer very seriously and continue to be mindful of the ASA's guidance on the effective and appropriate targeting of advertising campaigns." 
 
 The complaint against Spotify was filed by a parent who said their children viewed the ad and found it upsetting. The age of the children is unclear but apparently they saw a version of the ad — there is also 30-second version — on a video game YouTube channel intended for kids 10 and up. 
 
 According to the ASA, the streaming music company had failed to sufficiently warn viewers that the commercial was not a horror movie trailer. 
 
 Spotify agreed that the ad was appropriate for older audiences. The company argued that data showed that 89 percent of the viewers of the YouTube channel where the ad ran are 18 or older — the target demographic it was intended to reach. Additionally, the company explained, the ad — which preceded unrelated videos — allowed viewers to skip the commercial after five seconds, and that the scary doll didn't appear until 12 seconds into the ad.
– Spotify's latest ad features a catchy popular pop tune and "a medley of horror film tropes" in the lead-up to its final tagline, per NPR: "Killer songs you can't resist." But it's just that horror theme, along with what Billboard calls a "terrifying eyeless doll," that has now prompted a UK watchdog group to ban the commercial. The minute-long ad shows a bunch of young people living in a house together, starting their mornings with a "wake-up playlist" that includes Camila Cabello's "Havana"—a song that apparently yanks the aforementioned doll out of its own deep sleep and sets it off on what appears to be a killing spree. No gore is shown (the doll just starts unnervingly showing up in unexpected places), but that it's up to murder is assumed. The Advertising Standards Authority didn't like the overall feel of the ad, especially when it comes to kids watching it. "The implied threat of violence [and] the fact the ad was set inside the home, including a bedtime setting, and featured a doll" is particularly troublesome, the group says, adding it's "likely to cause undue distress to children." The ASA got pulled into the fray after a parent complained their kids saw the ad on a YouTube video-game channel and became upset. Spotify says most of the people who saw the ad were adults (the target audience) and that viewers could opt out of it after five seconds—seven seconds before the doll makes an appearance. Still, in a statement it notes "regret" for causing distress, adding: "We take our responsibilities as a marketer very seriously." ET Canada and JOE.co note the ASA's role in keeping other ads off the air, including one for the horror film The Nun and a breast reduction ad that ran during the series Love Island. (Spotify recently muted this artist.)