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Truth in advertising is officially forbidden in Britain, now, if it ‘offends’ someone.
Which should be no surprise, really: Britain has banned and criminalised the truth for years. You’re not allowed to tell the truth about Islamic terror, and you’re certainly not allowed to tell the truth about human sex.
And, whatever you do, don’t dare tell the truth about crime and race.
A Ministry of Justice advert showing a real black prisoner and white guard reinforced negative racial stereotypes, a watchdog has ruled.
The Facebook advert for the MoJ’s Prison Jobs scheme, on June 25, featured an image of a white prison officer talking to a black inmate, with superimposed text stating: “Become a prison officer. One career, many roles.”
Note that: a real black prisoner and a real white guard. So, the photo was documentary, rather than staged. It was true.
A reader complained that the advert perpetuated negative ethnic stereotypes and was likely to cause serious offence. Following an investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the regulator agreed, and ruled that it must not be shown again.
But it didn’t “portray” anything, other than a factual situation.
The MoJ said the photographs used in the campaign featured real officers and prisoners, arguing that it did not, therefore, ‘portray’ a black man as a criminal but rather depicted a real person who had been convicted of an offence.
It said it was therefore an accurate and fair representation of the type of engagement that might have been seen between officers and prisoners.
While white prisoners make up a majority (71 per cent) of British prisoners, “BIPOC” prisoners punch well above their weight, 26 per cent – or nearly twice their share of the British population.
On the other hand, 92 per cent of British prison officers are white.
So, not only was the picture real, it depicted what is a highly likely scenario in a British prison.
However, the ASA ruled that the advert caused “serious offence on the grounds of race”.
The reasoning gets even stupider, have no fear.
It ruled: “The ad showed a real white prison officer and black male inmate in a prison setting. The inmate wore an afro pick comb in his hair – a tool we understood was uniquely associated with black culture.
“Uniquely associated”? Someone ought to tell that to my son, who’s had one in the drawer for years, to tackle his curly hair.
It’s hardly as if the ad had the guard dressed in a white hood, while a drooling, shuffling, rubber-lipped prisoner ate fried chicken and watermelon. But, such is the low bar for ‘racism’ these days, that even a comb is ‘offensive’.
The ASA ruled that the advert must not appear again, adding: “We told the Ministry of Justice to ensure they avoided causing serious offence on the grounds of race.”
Responding to the ruling, a Ministry of Justice source said: “This well-meaning but ludicrous ruling is directly counter-productive to our shared goal to improve diversity in the prison service.”
The Telegraph
Consider yourselves told, lads: on no account will the truth be tolerated in modern, woke, Britain.