Three social media posts from The Otley Burger Company have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for referencing Madeleine McCann amid fears that the ads would likely cause widespread distress and offence.
A tweet, an Instagram and a Facebook post from the food truck company all featured images of the missing child Madeleine McCann and her mother Kate, with text which stated “with burgers this good, you’ll leave your kids at home. Whats the worst that could happen”.
In the background of the image a man could also be seen to be running away with a superimposed image of Madeleine McCann in his hands. Though the Instagram post stated “this is not an advert”, the post also included the phrase “Happy Mothers Day to all the mums out there”.
Members of the public complained to the ASA and challenged whether the adverts were likely to cause distress and “serious” offence.
The Otley Burger Company responded by stating that the image was a meme and that there was no product placement, and for this reason the posts could not to be considered as advertising.
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“Meta stated that they had reviewed the content in the Instagram post and had removed it for violating their policies,” the ASA said.
“They undertook a broader review of the Instagram account, removed further content and placed restrictions on the account.”
“Twitter also said the tweet had been deleted.”
The self-regulatory authority ultimately ruled that any reference to a missing child was “likely to be distressing”, and that in the context of an advertisement promoting a burger company, the distress caused was “unjustified”.
The ASA also felt that the posts “trivialised” the events surrounding McCann’s disappearance and made a joke of child abduction and serious crime.
The ASA added: “We noted that the ads were all posted on 27 March 2022 which was Mother’s Day. We considered that in combination with the images, the posting of the ads on that date was intended to further add to the shock factor and offensive nature of the ads.”
“We also considered it was likely to have compounded the distress of those who saw the ads, and particularly for those who may have experienced the disappearance of a child.”
The Otley Burger Company were ordered by the authority to take the ads down concluding that they breached Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) codes with regards to “responsible advertising” and “harm and offence”.
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