The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld 115 complaints against a Leicester life insurance company’s ad featuring serial murderer, Harold Shipman.
Know for its provocative marketing, DeadHappy came under fire in January after including a picture of Shipman in two paid-for social media ads on Facebook and Instagram, with overlaying text which stated: “LIFE INSURANCE … Because you never know who your doctor might be.”
Shipman is estimated to have murdered between 215 and 260 of his patients.
In a statement, ASA said that the adverts “trivialised and made light of the murders committed by Harold Shipman, such that they were likely to cause both serious and widespread offence to those who saw them.”
It added: “We further considered that any reference to the murderer in advertising material was likely to be distressing, particularly for those who had lost family members or friends at Shipman’s hands and that, in the context of an ad promoting life insurance, the distress caused was unjustified.
“We concluded that the ads were not prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society and did not comply with rules on issues of harm and offence. We welcomed DeadHappy’s assurance that they would not be repeated.”
DeadHappy has since apologised for any offence or distress caused, saying it was never their intention to offend and that once it became clear that the ads were causing offence, they removed them.
The ads went live at 2 pm on 23 January, and were taken down at 8 am on 24 January.
DeadHappy confirmed that they would not run the ads again and are reviewing their processes in relation to the creation and approval of ads, endeavouring to make better informed decisions going forward.
