Posters for Irish director's new movie banned in London
Posters for an Irish director's new horror movie have been banned in the UK from appearing where children might see them over concerns their realistic depiction of a dead child was likely to cause distress.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned posters for an upcoming horror movie directed by an Irish filmmaker from appearing in public spaces where children might view them. The ASA received 30 complaints about the ads for Lee Cronin's film "The Mummy," which feature a poster seen on London Underground trains and outdoor billboards.
The poster displays a close-up image of a female character with a mummified appearance, one eye swollen shut, and her face covered in brown material. The ad text reads: "Some things are meant to stay buried. Lee Cronin's The Mummy." TV and live streaming service ads also showed brief scenes of a body being removed from a sarcophagus and a distressed woman, ending with the mother saying, "I just want my daughter back."
Warner Bros, the film's distributor, stated that the poster ads were created with due responsibility to consumers and society and were not intended to create fear or distress. They argued that the character depicted was a living mummy who returned to her parents as a teenager or young adult after being kidnapped as a child. The studio claimed the posters used a neutral facial expression and avoided violence, threat, or intimidation to minimize the risk of distress.
They also noted that the ads were submitted to Transport for London's advertising partner and accepted for display on the London Underground network.
The ASA upheld the complaints, stating that the grey and ashen appearance of the female's skin, dry and cracked lips, one swollen and fixed eye, and the sunken and lifeless facial features gave a realistic impression of a dead child. The ASA acknowledged that the ads were not placed within 100 meters of any schools but noted that the poster was visible from a children's nursery.
They concluded that the image was likely to distress young children and was unsuitable for outdoor display, thus breaching advertising code rules. The ASA did not uphold complaints about other Warner Bros films, finding the imagery in those cases highly stylized and appropriate for viewing after 7:30 PM.
Written by urgent.news from RTE News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
