Morning-After Pill's 'Immaculate Contraception' Ad Withdrawn
The maker of a morning-after abortion pill has agreed to pull its ads carrying the headline 'Immaculate Contraception' from the London Underground after Catholic groups filed complaints to an advertising watchdog.
An advertisement for a morning-after abortion pill containing the headline “Immaculate Contraception? If only” has been pulled from the London Underground after an advertising watchdog agreed with two Catholic groups that it was “offensive on religious grounds.”
The Advertising Standards Authority received 179 complaints for the ad for a morning-after pill Levonelle One Step reading, "Immaculate contraception? If only. It might be Christmas time, but condoms still split and pills still get forgotten.”
National Association of Catholic Families, the Catholic Truth Society, members of the public and an MP (member of the Parliament) filed complaints to the poster to ASA, saying the headline could be interpreted as a pun on the Roman Catholic dogma on Mary’s immaculate conception of Jesus. ASA concluded the ad would "likely to cause serious or widespread offence.”
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Schering Health Care, which makes the pill, told ASA it "deeply regretted" that the ad caused offence. “The headline was intended as a play on words to indicate that no contraception method was perfect or foolproof,” said Schering Health Care. It has pulled the ads from the London Underground, cancelled press bookings, and promised not to use it again, ASA reported.
The ASA said the groups also charged the ad with being “irresponsible, because it could encourage casual sex and trivialised unwanted pregnancy,” a second area of complaint it rejected.
The NACF said on its Web site it wishes to thank everyone who contacted the ASA to express their objections.
