Advert
for campaign against ID
cards cleared for comparing Blair to Hitler
From ASA
An ad for NO2ID, an
anti-identity card campaign group, appeared in The Guardian. The ad showed a
close-up photograph of Tony Blair; on his upper lip was a barcode. Text
under the photograph stated id cards have worked well in Europe before.
www.no2id.net.
The complainants thought the barcode on Tony Blair's upper lip made him
resemble Hitler and the portrayal of a public figure as Hitler was
offensive.
NO2ID said the photograph of Tony Blair was expertly retouched to make it
look like a 1930s portrait and the layout was designed to recall the Nazi
era. They said the photograph did not portray Tony Blair as Hitler but was
intended to be a comparison of Tony Blair with Hitler based on policy, not
personality.
NO2ID believed free speech was a vital function of advertising and the ad,
which made important points about government policy, was unlikely to cause
serious or widespread offence. They said the ad was intended to be insulting
to Tony Blair but argued that insulting a politician was unlikely to offend.
They pointed out that the print media they had chosen frequently carried
verbal and cartoon attacks on Tony Blair and other politicians in their
editorial pages. They said such attacks on politicians for their policies
were a fundamental part of debate in any democratic society as well as a
customary one in British society. They said they had intended to highlight
an under-discussed aspect of an important issue and to stimulate debate and
believed the message of the ad, that the introduction of ID cards was a
policy with shocking implications, would be adequately communicated to, and
understood by, the likely readership.
The Guardian believed the ad did not make a serious comparison between Tony
Blair and Hitler but sought to highlight a particularly contentious policy.
They said the Guardian was aimed at an adult and educated readership and, as
such, they should allow a certain degree of latitude in the advertising they
carried that depicted political figures.
ASA Assessment: Not upheld, No further action necessary.
The ASA noted the ad had been intended to encourage discussion on a
sensitive political issue. We considered that, although the ad may have been
distasteful to some, it was unlikely to be seen as making a serious
comparison between Tony Blair and Hitler but instead as highlighting a
lobbying groups opinion that ID cards should not be introduced because of
the threat to civil liberty they posed. We concluded that, as such, the ad
was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.
From
the
From
From the
From
The killjoy authorities
seem to want to make TV so boring that it will the youngsters to drink.
A
white scarf was discretely added over an artist's depiction of a mermaid
with an exposed breast on a poster advertising the 2006 Miss World
contest, after officials in Warsaw's conservative administration deemed
it too suggestive. 
A
semi nude but modest photo of pregnant US pop singer Britney Spears was given
the green light Friday by a Tokyo subway censorship board after being rejected
for being too 'stimulating.' 
A
complaint was submitted ti the ASA against Eidos Interactive for a magazine
advert for Hitman: Blood Money. The picture showed a woman in her
underwear with a bullet hole in her forehead and the headline: "Beautifully
Executed". People complained to the ASA about the juxtaposition of death and
sexuality.
45
complaints that one
of Sony's campaigns encouraged violent and anti- social behaviour among young
people and objectified women have been dismissed.
Playboy
Enterprises, the New York-listed adult publisher and broadcaster, wants to
use Britain as its base to move into the gay market for the first time.
A
beer advert has become the first to fall foul of rules banning any link
between alcohol and sexual success. 
ASA
spokesman Matt Wilson described the Young's ruling as a "benchmark" for
others in the industry to work from. 
