By Andy McCue, 30 November 2006 15:15
NEWS
A full-page anti-ID card advert that appeared in the national press portraying Prime Minister Tony Blair with a Hitler-style barcode moustache was not offensive, the UK's advertising watchdog has ruled.
The ad for the No2ID non-partisan anti-ID card lobby group showed a close-up photograph of Blair with a barcode on his upper lip and text underneath it saying "ID cards have worked well in Europe before". (See the advert here.)
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received eight complaints about the advert saying the barcode on Blair's lip made him resemble Hitler and that the portrayal of a public figure as Hitler was offensive.
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A is for Act
B is for Biometrics
C is for Compulsory
D is for Data privacy worries
E is for EDS
F is for Forgery
G is for Government IT
H is for Home Office
I is for Identity and Passport Service
J is for Jury
K is for Hong Kong
L is for London School of Economics
M is for Money
N is for National Identity Register
O is for Other cards
P is for Passports
Q is for Quarter
R is for Refuseniks
S is for Self-destruct
T is for Terrorist
U is for Utility bill
V is for Verification
W is for When
X is for Xenophobia
Y is for Young people
Z is for London Zoo
The photograph of Blair had been retouched to make it look like a 1930s portrait and the layout was designed to echo the Nazi era. However No2ID said the advert was not meant to portray Blair as Hitler but to be a comparison of Blair's and Hitler's policies.
The lobby group said the advert contained an implicit claim that ID cards were useful to the implementation of Nazi policies across Europe during World War II, that ID cards had been used to control populations in occupied Europe and were closely associated with the process of sorting victims for concentration camps.
No2ID argued that the intention of the advert was to encourage discussion by the general public of the civil liberties implications of ID cards, and that while it may have been insulting to Blair, it was not offensive.
The Guardian newspaper, which carried the advert, said it believed the photo did not make a serious comparison between Blair and Hitler but highlighted a particularly contentious government policy.
The ASA agreed and in its ruling said: "We considered that, although the ad may have been distasteful to some, it was unlikely to be seen as making a serious comparison between Tony Blair and Hitler but instead as highlighting a lobbying group's opinion that ID cards should not be introduced because of the threat to civil liberty they posed. We concluded that, as such, the ad was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence."
(Continued... see the advert on page 2)
Comments
There are 24 comments. Join the discussion
1. man de hu
Disgusting!
Will the lefty muggers stop at nothin?
2. anonymous
This is clearly offensive. Hitler was a war monger, responsible for the deaths of thousands, while Blair is....
3. anonymous
Absolutely first class piece of advertising, thought provoking and quite clearly adding to the debate about the pernicious nature of recording everyone's data - where does it stop? DNA tagging?Radio tags? Cameras follow us everywhere - you don't have to be left or right wing to be disturbed by the intrusion of the state into everyone's business
4. Trevor Elliott
I'm not a fan of Mr Blair, but I do find this type of advertising offensive. It is clear that offence was intended. The advertising standards agency should be ashamed. They should reconsider.
5. Ian Farrell
Brilliant! And how acurate and assessment. The much maligned Satchi advert with the red eyes couldn't have been closer to the mark in hindsight. Lets have more!
6. Roger Huffadine
An interesting jumble of ideas - Hitler killing Jews & Blair killing Arabs all held together by the insanity of ID cards.
7. Big Mo
If you espouse Hitler-like policies, then you deserve rightly to be compared with Hitler! It's not a personal criticism of the man (Blair) but of his policies. <BR><BR>The public and the free Press (for which so many fought and died!) should never refrain from criticising politicians' work! <BR><BR>Long live free thought and the free Press. Democracy depends upon it; facisim thrives in its absence!
8. Chris Tolmie
This is serious. Blair is clearly not Hitler (thank goodnes) but the systems being introduced by this elected government could be used against the population inthe future. RFiD tagging of children - no-one talks about removal at adulthood. More CCTV cameras than any other country, the collection of DNA of innocent people, the 2002 licencing act which could be used to stop protest songs. We have huge spin (demand for school acedemies is high - it may be - but please share the detailed report - who was asked?). Compare this with Orwell's 1984 and "Truthspeak", rooms with cameras and microphones. You can start to see very scary connections.
We must remember that Hitler was elected - which is a very scary thought!!
9. Neil L
Even if it is meant as a direct comparison to Hitler so what? Is Blair not big enough to take that? If so then he should not be in a public office.
And the problem with ID cards is not what Blair and his current government might do with them, but what a future government might then do with the ID cards.
10. anonymous
Totally brilliant. Hopefully it won't detract from the idea behind the poster and that's to make people stop and think. Once ID's are introduced there's no going back. Will they make the Country a safer place? History of other Countries who have tried this suggests not. Did banning handguns do anything to stop the flood of illegal handguns and gun crime spreading throughout our nation. Another NO! Just because it comes from Government doesn't make it a good idea. It's another bad idea in a long list of bad ideas. Ten out of ten for the advertising guys.
11. Alan Butcher
Has anyone seen "Suspect State" on More 4? Its very worrying, all this about introducing ID cards.
The advert was not very offensive at all, but something needs to be done to stop ID cards and all the other stupid schemes Labour is introducing
12. anonymous
This is not from "lefties". It is left-wing socialists and big government conservatives (with a small "c") who support centralised state power. Social liberalism was advocated by Adam Smith, Milton Friedman and Hayek, all of whom have impecible right-wing credentials. I don't trust big government, but I ain't a leftie.
Also, there will be forgery. The Russian mafia versus a PFI contract? Who would you bet on?
13. Bernice
I find the idea of ID cards offensive.
Much more offensive than subjecting Tony Blare to ridicual. I was educated by a couple who escaped Nazi Germany and am fully aware how this type of control by the state develops into totalatrionizem.
14. Rchard Sarson
It's not the photo but the text which is offensive - to the 400 million EU citizens, who today carry ID cards in 22 countries of the Union. Does NO2ID consider them and their leaders Hitlerian?
15. Mr I like my Freedom
Its about time somebody made this comparison!
Ok we all know that hitler was an evil vicious dictator, and to the un-educated, this will just appear offensive, because they don't know any better.
To these people - dig a little deeper. Check your history records and look into how Hitler made his way up to the leader that he was. He didnt become that powerful overnight. He needed justifications for war, invasions etc. How do you think he did all this?
Bush and Blair use the same methods that Hitler used to use to justify war, like Terrorism for example. He used to dress his own troops in foreign colours and have them commit acts of terrorism on his own land, thus justifying his own invasion into their territory.
If the comparison offends you, thats unfortunate, because its based on FACT. Thats why they have done it!
If you dont like FACT go back to reading the Sun, and just bury your head in the sand.
16. Mickey Walker
Gee-Wiz! What a resemblance! I see a whole new marketing angle here. We could have Nazi hot dogs, Nazi beer, and of course Nazi pretzels! Its apparently OK now to show a rag head with a bomb strapped to his body using Gillet shaving cream before he goes to the subway. How about a live spot selling fish and chips with the nut case who is about to off the kiddies in the school yard. THIS IS NOT ALL RIGHT. IT WILL NEVER BE ALL RIGHT. WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING?
17. Ruth McCullough
It may not be offensive to me - I think it's brilliant - what's that song about a picture painting a thousand words? - that is so true in this instance but I do hope that Mr Blair finds it very, very, offensive - just as offensive as his policies are to an increasing number of voters.
18. Matt
Ridiculous! How could you compare Blair to Hiter? Hitler actually knew what he was doing when he came to power! He even did a good job of organising a country torn by war and economic ruin. What has Blair done? If Blair finds it offensive, so be it, as for the rest of the nation, who cares? He knew what he was signing up for when he became PM.....
19. David Weeks
Freedom and Free speech at its best, I thought this is what we are giving to Iraq, but with Tony's double standards what do you expect.
20. Graham Coles
This seems fair game to me.
All of the ID in the world didn't stop Sept 11th (as far as I recall, all of the terrorists involved in this had proper ID in the form of legitimate passports).
I believe the TSA in America have successfully identified five year old children as potential terrorists by their name and asked them to bring their driving licence or other proof of identity to be allowed to fly. Fantastic work America, this'll work wonderfully in the fight against terrorism.
Consistently we are told that ID cards will prevent terrorism. Utter rubbish. All they did was identify the terrorists after the fact and prove they didn't have any prior records.
Ditto the attacks in Spain where they have ID cards.
So far all I have heard is that the British taxpayer has to fund ID cards to the tune of 5-25 billion pounds with no real evidence that it is of use to anything, besides a control-freak government.
Combat terrorism - no.
Combat illegal immigration - no.
Fight organized crime - no.
Criminal waste of money and resources - yes.
Identity theft from scanning RFID passports - yes.
Pardon me for asking as one of the powerless paying for this nonsense, but where are the benefits in this.
21. Mike Richards
It was a stupid advert and would not have persuaded anyone to change their minds. The idea was confused and badly executed. The photo clearly intends to make Blair look like Hitler, yet the text says 'Tony Blair is not Adolf Hitler' - pathetic.
And I'm saying this as a member of No2ID.
22. Rob
I can't not comment.
What's most disturbing is Matt's comments are on the nose.
The texan has no right to moan like that seeing as American money was killing UK civilians by funding the IRA for many a year. So we have every right to insult our innately stupid leader, he shoudl no what that feels like seeing as he has one too.
As for the MK Lecturer, no wonder our students are mostly useless, the lecturers where I work are completely out of touch as well.
Hitler was a politican that managed events in a way that his people believed they were doing the right thing, just be thankful that Hitler didn't have the power of the media that Bush has at his disposal, thankfully he hasn't got the intelligence to use them the way Hitler would.
23. anonymous
Fantastic advert. Brilliant idea. Yes some EU citizens do already carry ID cards, however they do not have their biometrics embedded in them. This government will not stop until babies are DNA swabbed at birth and all crimes are just run through the National DNA database as a matter of course, thus reversing the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
24. Adolf B (UK)
A classic anology.................... and it really gets the point over left or right
Why does Blair want I.D cards?
And after Blair why does anyone really think that I.D cards will solve much other than the control over the general population........... that's you and me not the terrorists ;)