ASA Adjudication on Merlin Entertainments (Dungeons) Ltd

Ad

A series of four posters, which all appeared on the same street in Edinburgh, advertised the William Wallace attraction at the Edinburgh Dungeon and portrayed either a dismembered arm or leg. In each case the severed arm or leg had cuts and open sores that oozed blood and deep ligature marks appeared around the ankles and wrists. Text on the four posters stated "William Wallace …", "hung, drawn and quartered …", "and made an exhibition of" and "First on your right" respectively. In the fourth poster the fore-finger was in a pointing position. All posters displayed the logo and address of the Edinburgh Dungeon.

Issue

Three complainants believed the posters were offensive and distressing and unsuitable for general display.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Merlin Entertainments (Merlin) explained that the Edinburgh Dungeon was about having fun with history's more horrible topics.  They said their new William Wallace exhibition focussed on the subjects execution and so it made sense for its advertising to follow suit.  They said, aside from the entertainment aspect, the Dungeon also played an important role in educating visitors about the darker side of local history and, thanks to the film Braveheart, many people knew that Wallace suffered a slow, painful death.  They said it was not commonly known, however, that he was hung, drawn and quartered with his limbs displayed separately in Newcastle, Berwick, Stirling and Perth.  They said they had wanted to acknowledge this fact in marketing material for the exhibition without giving too much away, using the Dungeon's distinctive humorous tone of voice.

Merlin said they had used a similar poster, which featured a severed finger pointing in the direction of the Dungeon, in the same street in 2006 without complaint.  They were, therefore, reassured that posters showing only limbs were not outside the prevailing standards of decency.  They explained, regardless, that they made the images associated with the Wallace attraction less explicit; unlike the 2006 poster, there was no bone shown and the limbs loomed from a dark background rather than being brightly lit.  They said they were sorry to hear of the complaints received by the ASA, but believed the posters communicated the reality of the story without revelling in the gore of it.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the complainants' concern that the posters were too offensive for general display.  We also acknowledged Merlin's argument that the severed limbs shown were not brightly lit and, unlike an earlier display, were less graphic as no bone was displayed.

We recognised that the tone of the ads, although not to everyone's taste, was intended to be darkly humorous and considered that adults would understand that to be the case.  We noted the posters appeared in close proximity to each other and were not seen in isolation; it was clear, therefore, from the message they conveyed as a group, that they referred to an exhibition at the Edinburgh Dungeon and the final poster, with a finger pointing out the location of the attraction, highlighted this in a tone, that was, although somewhat ghoulish, intended to be amusing.  We considered that the posters were unlikely, therefore, to cause serious or widespread offence amongst adults.

We noted, however, the limbs on each poster appeared very badly maimed with realistic ligature marks and open wounds, which were explicitly horrific in their portrayal and the graphic depiction of torture they represented.  Therefore, although we acknowledged that it was clear to adults that the posters represented a display at the Edinburgh Dungeon, we considered that the images could cause distress to young children, who were likely only to focus on the images and would not understand their meaning or that they were intended to be humorous.

We concluded, therefore, that in the context of an untargeted medium such as a poster where they could be seen by a general audience including children, the images were too shocking and were, therefore, irresponsible.

The posters breached CAP Code clause 2.2 (Responsible advertising) and 9.1 (Fear and distress), but did not breach clause 5.1 (Decency).

Action

The posters must not appear again in their current form.  We advised Merlin to seek a view from the CAP Copy Advice team before advertising in this way again.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)