Social media adverts for life insurance that featured images of killer GP Harold Shipman caused 'serious and widespread offence and unjustified distress', a watchdog has ruled. Paid-for ads for DeadHappy, a life insurance firm based in Leicester, ran on Facebook and Instagram last month.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) - the UK's independent regulator of advertising across all media - has now revealed it received 115 complaints after the Manchester Evening News told how a relative of one of Shipman's victims branded the ads 'despicable and unacceptable'.
The ASA said the complainants 'challenged whether the ads irresponsibly caused serious and widespread offence and unjustified distress' and in a published ruling after an investigation, confirmed today their complaints have been upheld.
"The ads must not appear again," said the watchdog in its ruling. "We told DeadHappy Ltd to ensure they avoided causing serious or widespread offence, or unjustified distress."
The Facebook ad contained the caption 'Get your life insurance sorted with DeadHappy – 5 star life insurance rated excellent on Trustpilot...Cheap monthly prices… Jargon-free application… 2 months free'.
Below the caption was an image of serial murderer Shipman with overlaying text stating: "LIFE INSURANCE…Because you never know who your doctor might be."
The Instagram ad also featured an image of Shipman and the same text of 'LIFE INSURANCE…Because you never know who your doctor might be'. Both ads also featured a slogan of 'life insurance to die for'.
The ruling said: "The ASA received 115 complaints. The complainants challenged whether the ads irresponsibly caused serious and widespread offence and unjustified distress.
"The ads contained an image of the serial murderer, Harold Shipman, a British doctor who it is estimated murdered between 215 and 260 of his patients. We considered that the image of Shipman would be instantly recognisable to many people."
The ASA added it considered 'elements' of the ads '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'.
"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," the ruling went on.
"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."
In response to the ASA, DeadHappy apologised for any offence or distress caused. The company said the ads went live at 2pm on January 23 and were taken down less than 24 hours later at 8am the following day.
The ASA said: "They said that it was never their intention to offend and that once it became clear that the ads were causing offence, they removed them. DeadHappy confirmed that they would not run the ads again. They said they are reviewing their processes in relation to the creation and approval of ads and would endeavour to make better informed decisions going forward."
Both Facebook and Instagram 'acknowledged the complaints, but made no further comment', the ASA added.
Andy Knott, DeadHappy founder, said in response: "In our attempt to be provocative and make people really stop and think about their need for life insurance, we have made a mistake and for this we apologise. We will now go away and immediately review all of our current and future marketing campaigns to ensure that we learn from this mistake."
Shipman, who had a GP surgery on Market Street in Hyde, Tameside, was convicted of murdering 15 of his patients by injecting them with diamorphine. He was jailed for life, with a whole life order, in 2000, but found dead in his prison cell at HMP Wakefield four years later in 2004 aged 57. The Shipman Inquiry, chaired by Dame Janet Smith, said he could have killed 250 people.
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