The Gay Police Association (GPA) has been reprimanded for an advert
which implied Christians were responsible for a huge rise in violent
attacks on homosexuals.
The advert, placed in The Independent newspaper under the banner "in
the name of the father" showed a Bible and a pool of blood.
It was a one-off, used to back up the GPA's claim that the
association had recorded a 74 percent increase in homophobic
incidents, where the sole or primary motivating factor was the
religious belief of the perpetrator.
The association said the accompanying text made clear Christians
were not the only group accused, in fact a quarter of the alleged
incidents were provoked by Muslims, it said.
But Christian groups claimed the use of the cross and a quote from
the Bible implied they were.
On Wednesday, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) agreed with
the complainants, who included Christian Watch, the Trinitarian
Bible Society and The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical
Churches, saying it could cause offence.
The GPA's advert was also found to have been untruthful in its claim
that calls about homophobic incidents had increased by 74 percent,
and it was criticised for not being able to back up its statement
with evidence.
The calls to its helpline included general enquiries, requests for
help and allegations of discrimination in the workplace.
The ASA said in its ruling that "by featuring spilt blood
prominently, the ad suggested that all the reported incidents
involved physical injury
"On this point, the advert breached the truthfulness code," it added.
It told the GPA to "ensure future campaigns were not presented in a
way that could cause undue offence and also reminded them that they
should ensure the use of imagery did not send misleading messages to
consumers".
It also asked the GPA to "ensure any statistics could be
substantiated and reminded them to show supporting data to the ASA
upon request" after it had failed to do so.
But the ASA rejected the Christian groups' claim that the advert
implied Christian teaching was responsible for, or condoned,
homophobic incidents.
It also failed to support their suggestion that the advert incited
violence or fuelled prejudice against religious people.
More than 550 complaints had been registered against the advert,
which had run to coincide with 2006 Euro-Pride march.
The GPA said it was designed to be thought-provoking and
challenging, but that it was never intended to castigate or describe
all religious followers as homophobic.
"They used these false statistics to make
it seem that Christians were attacking them".
1)The GPA's advert was also found to have been untruthful in its
claim that calls about homophobic incidents had increased by 74
percent, and it was criticised for not being able to back up its
statement with evidence.
2)The calls to its helpline included general enquiries, requests for
help and allegations of discrimination in the workplace.
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