ASA Slams UK Life League For Anti-Abortion Mailings
The ASA has slammed the UK Life League for a direct mailing that featured “shocking” and “horrible” images of aborted babies.
The mailing, which was randomly sent to unwitting recipients, featured a picture of a dead aborted baby under the headline: “In memory of six million unborn British Babies murdered by abortion since 1967.”
Complainants, who had been told that their details had been taken from newspaper letters pages, objected the the mailing on the grounds that it was offensive and unduly distressing.
The UK Life League, which refused to respond to the ASA in writing, defended their right to show the pictures and said that the purpose of the mailing was to shock, disturb, provoke and upset.
The ASA claimed that society had the right to protection against ads that caused widespread offence or undue distress and expressed its concern by the UK Life League’s refusal to co-operate, which it considered a breach of the codes.
The Authority concluded that the mailing was, in fact, unduly distressing and ordered the advertisers to stop distributing it. The complaints were upheld.
Earlier this month a preliminary ruling by the ASA found the BBC’s Freeview ad campaign in breech of its code of practice, for claiming that viewers can receive eight “free” BBC TV channels (see BBC’s Freeview Ad Breeches ASA Codes).
ASA: 020 7580 5555 www.asa.org.uk
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