Ad description
a. An e-mail ad from Philosophy Football received on 9 April was headed "Rejoice T-shirt from Philosophy Football". The e-mail stated "In funeral black a special T-shirt from www.philosophyfootball.com This one is for the miners, the steelworkers, the printers, the millions unemployed, the injustices the Hillsborough familes were forced to endure, the Poll Tax protesters, those who lost their lives on HMS Sheffield, and the Belgrano, for what? For the women of Greenham Common and the Trident missiles we didn't want. For the NHS and the nurses, our schools and teachers, the council houses sold off, the privatisation of our public utilitie [sic], railways and buses. For our school milk. For the reputation of St Francis of Assisi. In remembrance of all we lost 1979-90, much of it never returned to us. A life remembered with decent human sympathy. But lifetimes remembered too, scarred by divisions we'll never forget. Special offer, just £17.99 until the ceremonial funeral. Order before Friday12th and we will do our very best to get it to you in time to wear on the day of the Funeral. From [link]".
b. The website for Philosophy Football, www.philosophyfootball.com, included a web page selling the T-shirt. The product name was given as "rejoice" and text below stated "SPECIAL OFFER! Low price until the Ceremonial Funeral, just £17.99". The page included further text similar to that in ad (a).
Issue
The complainant objected that the ads were offensive, in particular because they referred to a person who had very recently died.
Response
Philosophy Football said they believed the ads were provocative, but not offensive. They said ad (a) had been sent to several thousand existing customers who had previously bought 'left of centre' political T-shirts from them. They said the e-mail referred specifically to "A life remembered with decent human sympathy" and that the "rejoice" was clearly contextualised by reference to Baroness Thatcher's political actions. They did not believe the ad was disrespectful towards her death, but that it connected with sentiment from some of the public over the cost of the funeral and the state sponsored celebration of a person whose politics many opposed. They said they had received some complaints about the ad and they had responded apologising for any offence or upset caused and explaining the reasoning behind the T-shirt. They said most people had been happy with their response. They said some people had also commented that they would have preferred a more offensive T-shirt.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA considered that both ads clearly linked the nature and purpose of the T-shirt to the actions of Baroness Thatcher during her time as Prime Minister. Ad (a) had been targeted at customers who had previously bought 'left of centre' T-shirts and ad (b) appeared on a website that sold a number of left-wing and radical T-shirts, as well as T-shirts quoting philosophers and footballers. We therefore considered that consumers viewing either ad were likely to understand that the content might be provocative. Although we considered that some people might find the ads distasteful, we did not consider they were likely to cause serious or widespread offence or that the advertiser had not taken sufficient care to avoid offence when referring to someone who had recently died. We concluded that the ads did not breach the Code.
We investigated ads (a) and (b) under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
4.1
4.1
Marketing communications must not contain anything that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Particular care must be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age. Compliance will be judged on the context, medium, audience, product and prevailing standards.
Marketing communications may be distasteful without necessarily breaching this rule. Marketers are urged to consider public sensitivities before using potentially offensive material.
The fact that a product is offensive to some people is not grounds for finding a marketing communication in breach of the Code.
and
4.3
4.3
References to anyone who is dead must be handled with particular care to avoid causing offence or distress.
(Harm and offence) but did not find them in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
