Humanists UK urges ASA: don’t censor ‘sacrilegious’ images

A poster advertising comedian Fern Brady’s tour is ‘sacrilegious’, according to a complaint received by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Given ASA rules, this complaint could lead to the comedy poster being banned.

Humanists UK is concerned that the ASA will ban the poster on grounds of causing religious offence, as it has with similar adverts in the past. It says that doing so amounts to a de facto anti-blasphemy law, which is an unreasonable restriction on free expression.

Fern Brady’s poster shows her standing in front of a stained glass window with the title for her tour ‘I gave you milk to drink’, a reference to a biblical verse. Brady is depicted wearing ‘biblical era clothing’ and squirting breast milk towards the mouth of a man kneeling in ecclesiastical clothing.

The ASA is the self-regulator of almost all advertising space in the UK. It maintains a Code on Advertising Practice, and routinely bans adverts that don’t comply with the Code. The Code says ‘Marketing communications must not contain anything that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Particular care must be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of: …religion or belief’. Humanists UK believes that the subjective tests of ‘offence’ should not appear in the advertising codes of practice and has long spoken out against examples of censorship that amount to the reintroduction of the blasphemy law, for advertising, by the back door.

Last year, the ASA found that a poster promoting Demi Lovato’s album was ‘likely to cause offence to Christians’. The poster had been displayed at only six locations across London in the summer of 2022 before being taken down four days later. It depicted the clearly recognisable singer ‘in a bondage-style outfit whilst lying on a large, cushioned crucifix’, along with the name of the album, ‘HOLY FVCK’. Complaints were made to the ASA about the poster on two grounds – that the advertisement would cause ‘serious or widespread offence’ and that it was ‘irresponsibly placed where children could see it.’ Both grounds were upheld by the ASA. While the poster could have reasonably been banned solely for containing language that was easily recognisable as alluding to a swear word, or for its inappropriateness for children, Humanists UK criticised the ASA also banning the image for being religiously offensive.

Humanists UK Director of Public Affairs and Policy Richy Thompson commented: 

‘Blasphemy laws were repealed in England and Wales in 2008, and Scotland in 2024. Yet to censor adverts solely on the grounds that they may offend the religious sensibilities of some enforces a de facto ban on blasphemy.

‘We urge the ASA to make the right decision, to protect Fern Brady’s right to freedom of expression, and to do away with back door anti-blasphemy laws.’