Ad description
A paid-for ad for comedian Fern Brady, seen on the Sky News website on 18 August. The ad contained an image with the text “FERN BRADY” at the top and “I GAVE YOU MILK TO DRINK” overlayed on a stained-glass window. The image contained a woman with Fern Brady’s face, holding a baby, and spraying milk directly from her partially obscured breast into the mouth of a kneeling holy figure.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad was offensive, because they believed it mocked the Christian faith.
Response
Fern Brady explained that the image in the ad was a direct recreation of the religious painting titled “The Lactation of St. Bernard”. That artwork, created in the 17th century by Spanish painter Alonso Cano, depicted the Virgin Mary nursing St. Bernard of Clairvaux by spraying milk from her breast into his mouth. The painting was well known within Christian art and had been widely accepted and respected within religious contexts for centuries.
The ad creatively referenced that image, by using satire and humour as part of Fern Brady’s comedic brand. The intention was not to mock or belittle the original religious significance, but to offer a contemporary interpretation that aligned with her public persona as a comedian known for her irreverent style and her religious up-bringing. The text “I GAVE YOU MILK TO DRINK” overlayed a stained-glass window, which emphasised the artistic and cultural reference rather than aiming to offend. Efforts had been made to avoid any unintentional offence, in particular by covering Fern’s breast with a beam of light, which differed from the original painting.
Fern Brady acknowledged that religious imagery was a sensitive area, and had approached the ad with the knowledge that the original painting was a respected piece of Christian art. However, humour was also subjective, and she believed while some may have found the portrayal distasteful, that did not necessarily mean it was likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Fern Brady believed that in the context of satire and artistic reenactment, the ad instead reflected a long tradition of artistic reinterpretation.
Sky UK Ltd told us that the ad was not individually reviewed or cleared for use. They instead followed their standard processes whereby available advertising had to clear their advertiser and category block-lists, which the ad did. They were not aware of receiving any complaints directly.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that ads must not contain anything that was likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Particular care must be taken to avoid causing offence on certain grounds, including religion or belief.
We acknowledged Fern Brady’s comment that the ad was based on the religious painting titled “The Lactation of St. Bernard”, which we understood showed the miracle of Chatillon-sur-Seine, in which St. Bernard received divine grace from the Virgin Mary.
We understood that the painting on which the image was based had been selected for comic effect. Because of the subject matter of Fern Brady’s material, the effect had been compounded by deviations from the original painting, such as her knowing the text “I GAVE YOU MILK TO DRINK”, a ray of light shining through a stained glass window and across her breast, and the more exaggerated presentation of the milk. Regardless of consumers’ familiarity with the painting, or the content of Fern Brady’s work, we considered the ad, which appeared on a general news website, was likely to be seen as depicting the Virgin Mary, a highly revered individual in the Christian tradition, breastfeeding an adult holy figure in a church setting, for the purposes of humour. In that context, we considered that the ad was likely to be seen as mocking the religious figures shown. We therefore concluded that it was likely to cause serious offence to some within the Christian faith who saw the ad on the site.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 4.1 (Harm and offence).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of, in media in which it was likely to cause serious offence. We told Fern Brady to take care to not cause offence on the grounds of religion in future ads.
