ASA bans offensive Phones 4 U Jesus ad
7 September 2011
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has today (7 Sept)
censured the mobile phone retailing giant Phones 4 U Ltd for a
newspaper ad which depicted a cartoon of Jesus, grinning, winking,
and giving the thumbs up under the text 'Miraculous deals on
Samsung Galaxy Android phones'.
The ad received 98 complaints on the basis that it was
disrespectful to Christians, especially as it was run during the
Easter period. The ASA today found that the ad breached rule 4.1 of
the CAP Code as it caused harm and offence.
Nina Best, an expert in advertising law at Browne Jacobson,
commented:
“Phones 4 U got the timing completely wrong on the ad. Running
the campaign during the Easter period most likely led the ASA to
uphold the complaint. Whilst companies should not be deterred from
being edgy and tongue in cheek with their marketing efforts, they
must make sure they take all factors into consideration before
launching a campaign. Otherwise, the risk of vexing a large
proportion of their target audience is extremely high.”