A Crimestoppers ad with an image of a heart that looked as if it was “ripped out of someone’s chest” has been banned by the advertising watchdog.
The Crimestoppers Trust ran a poster campaign to get people to speak out about violent crime, using an image of someone holding a still-beating human heart in their bloodied hands.
The Advertising Standards Authority received complaints that the ad was likely to cause distress, particularly to children, and should not appear as posters.
Crimestoppers said that the campaign was designed in response to drug related violence, about which people were generally too afraid to give information, so a hard-hitting image was used.
The ad ran with the strapline: “Don’t let drugs and violence rip the heart out of your community.”
“We considered that some individuals, particularly children, who would not necessarily understand the rationale behind the image, might find the bloody image upsetting because of its graphic nature,” said the ASA. “While we acknowledged the positive intention behind the campaign and understood that the image had been used to emphasise the serious implications of violent crime, we considered that the image was not directly relevant to crime or the overriding message of the campaign.”
The ASA banned the ad and told Crimestoppers to ensure future marketing did not cause undue distress.
“We considered that the ad was likely to cause unjustifiable distress when displayed in an untargeted medium and concluded that it breached the [advertising] code,” said the ASA.
