BBC journalist Samira Ahmed found something new to fuss about. It’s about Lee Cronin’s The Mummy. There are no real mummies involved in the scenario—no actual, ancient corpse skulking around the London Tube. Instead, Ahmed thought that the poster looked a little too unsavory for children to see.
The poster looked like that of a child that was embalmed, with linen falling off. They look unsettlingly dead, yet coming back to life. It’s eerie for sure, but not enough to warrant it as a public disturbance.
Ahmed still thought it was too freaky for children to see, so she did the unthinkable.
“Just submitted my complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority about this poster ad at tube stations. Why is there so little consideration of the impact of such images on children? (And one might add, on bereaved parents),” the reporter posted on X.
It’s a minor inconvenience at best, but nothing harmful to report about. There’s nothing exactly vulgar about the image either. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) can regulate ads run in the United Kingdom, ensuring that these are compliant with existing advertisement codes. There is a current regulation that protects children, in which marketers are discouraged from showing children “in hazardous situations.”
Why is this an issue?
But this is just a movie, and a child coming back to life because they were mummified is hardly worth any complaints. Those who’ve gleaned even a bit of context about the movie would understand why the child is mummified. There are far more unsavory and odd themes that floated around the media landscape, and this poster does very little to raise alarm.
Social media thought Ahmed’s post was an overreaction to a non-issue. Many found the provocative poster a sign of good marketing. One social media user wrote, “this sort of pearl-clutching is crucial to the success of horror films. ideal marketing. encourage it.”
Another X user posted, “getting scared by horror movie posters is essential part of being a kid, it builds character! i still remember all the posters that traumatized me, it’s fun!”
Arguably, the post does little to offend children—but perhaps that statement is biased coming from a child raised by Tim Burton movies. Regardless, every generation has its own version of nightmare fuel. Millennials had It (1990), Gen Z had Saw (2004), and Gen Alpha had The Conjuring (2013).
Those movies definitely gave something kids back then to be afraid of. Millennials developed a fear of clowns, Gen Z couldn’t avert their eyes from random body parts on Saw ads, and Gen Alpha will never mess with random vintage dolls. The kids turned out to be just fine (debatable)—but on a serious note, kids knew back then that those were just movies.
To equate movie posters to something that could potentially destroy a child is a total stretch. There are issues that are actually damaging to children in the UK—like the stabbing epidemic the country is currently facing. A horror movie poster that obviously doesn’t endanger children should never warrant this much outrage.
What is Lee Cronin’s The Mummy about?
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy will be releasing on April 17, 2026. The story follows the young daughter of a journalist who goes missing. Eight years later, she emerges from a sarcophagus in Cairo alive but drastically changed. It’s an unsettling take on a missing child’s tale. If Ahmed knew half of what the plot is about, she might rally against the film being released in theaters at all.
(featured image: Warner Bros.)
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