ASA Ruling on Zazzle Inc
Zazzle Inc
1900 Seaport Boulevard, 4th Floor
Redwood City
CA 94063
USA
Date:
18 December 2013
Media:
Internet (e-tailing)
Sector:
Retail
Number of complaints:
1
Agency:
None
Complaint Ref:
A13-247896
Ad
A website which sold gifts and cards, www.zazzle.co.uk, featured a mug product with the words "World's Greatest Dad' on it. The mug also included an image of Josef Fritzl.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the image of Josef Fritzl alongside the text "World's Greatest Dad" was offensive.
CAP Code (Edition 12)
Response
Zazzle Inc did not response to the ASA's enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Zazzle Inc's lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in the future.
We noted the product was navigated to via the humour section of the personalised product website, but noted the product was not otherwise targeted. We considered that the juxtaposition of the image of Josef Fritzl next to the words "World's Greatest Dad" made light of the widely reported incidents of sexual and physical abuse of his daughter and therefore concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious and widespread offence.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 4.1 (Harm and offence).
Action
The ad should not appear again in its current form.
