Sexual ad breaks app playback

[Packinator]

My Question or Issue

Everytime an ad is due, an ad picture of a dude's balls is shown and the ad wont play, cant be skipped, and it stops the music. Only way around this is by closing the app and reopening. Issue returns at next ad break and I see the dude's balls again. Tried reinstall and restart. Please remove sexual ads.

Plan

Free

Country

USA

Device

PC

Operating System

Windows 11

[Packinator]

Day 2 of this guy's proudly displayed junk. Made it through 2 songs before his **bleep** interrupted.

[MafeG]

Hi @Packinator,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community.

We're sorry to hear about these issues you've encountered, rest assured we'll do our best to help you sort them out. 

To start, could you run a clean reinstall of the app to see if there's a difference?. This one is more thorough than a regular one and can be helpful to get rid of any cache that might be causing trouble. 

If the issue persists, we'd like to investigate this further, so please let us know the make, model and OS of your device.

Also, share with us some more info about the ad, the product/service it was advertising and the rough date/time the last time it was played.

Keep us posted.

[Packinator]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm running Windows 11 version 10.0.22000 Build 22000 on a custom built PC from Build Redux. I only seem to experience this issue with this particular ad, and the ad sometimes plays and sometimes breaks playback, requiring an exit>reopen to get the app to stream again. So it's an intermittent issue, and I only have it with this ad (at least so far).

I've uninstalled and reinstalled several times, and have tried the guide you posted (does not have a section for Win11, so I followed Win10). After uninstalling Spotify, there are no appdata roaming or local folders left on the drive. A search of the C:\ drive only returns results for Firefox profile files, as I'm using a browser as a workaround.

And the sexual ad thing...I get it, I'm on the free version and I should expect ads. What I have a problem with is sexual ads that play (and get stuck on that lovely picture) while I'm at work or out in public. It's NSFW and I don't want to look like a creep out in public.

Thank you!

[MafeG]

Hi @Packinator,

Thank you for your reply and sharing all this information.

You can be sure we want to inform the right teams about the contents of this ad. For us to do that, please don't forget to let us know the product/service it was advertising and the rough date/time the last time it was played.

It's also useful knowing the Spotify version you're running. 

About the technical issue, it's worth mentioning that the Spotify app isn't yet optimized for Windows 11 so our support with this OS is limited.

Could you confirm if you've also had this issue with other devices? You can also try with the Web Player to check if the same happens.

Keep us posted.

[Packinator]

Hello,

The ad is for a dolce and gabbana perfume and features 2 actors about to get it on, which sounds about right for their type of ads. Not the greatest when you're at work. Here is a youtube link to the same ad that plays - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2RxCQAd2m0

I have not had the issue with any other devices, or any other ads within the desktop version of the app. Web player works fine, which is my current workaround.

Thank you for your time!

[MafeG]

Hi @Packinator,

Thank you for keeping in touch.

We've passed on the feedback about the ad to the teams in charge. 

Now about the bug, could you try reinstalling the app one more time but this time download it directly from the Microsoft Store?

If it doesn't make a difference, please follow these steps to clear the hosts file on your PC. Even if the article is about a different topic, the steps are the same.

Let us know how this goes.

[Packinator]

I've reinstalled but have not run into the ad again. I noticed an issue with another ad though. it's a Capital One ad that is obviously a descriptor by a voice actor - a man's voice just says the type of ad, gives an ad ID and says "radio mix with a 2 pop" at the end. Got it a few times today, recently at noon EST.

[MafeG]

Hi @Packinator,

Thank you for keeping us in the loop.

Could you confirm if you also cleared the hosts files with the steps from my last post? 

Also, does this new ad also get stuck as the previous one? If it does, please restart your computer and start it in Safe Mode, then check if the same happens. 

Keep us posted.

[Packinator · Accepted solution]

Thanks MafeG, I can confirm doing the host file steps. The new ad doesn't get stuck, it was just an ad that clearly wasn't finished yet, as it was just a voice actor describing the ad details. I still have not experienced the stuck issue again, as I have not seen or heard either of those ads again. So I'm not sure if any of the steps we did would have any effect as I have not experienced either ad again.

[Jeremy]

Hi there @Packinator,

Thank you for your reply and confirmation.

We're really glad to see that everything works as it should for you 🙂

Let us know if we can help you with anything else.

Take care!