ASA BANS MUMMY FILM POSTERS FROM UK PUBLIC DISPLAY OVER DEAD CHILD IMAGERY

The Advertising Standards Authority has prohibited posters for Lee Cronin's film The Mummy from outdoor public display in the United Kingdom following 30 complaints about their content. The adverts, which appeared in London tube stations and on billboards, featured a close-up image of a mummified female figure with one eye swollen shut, accompanied by the text "Some things are meant to stay buried." The ASA upheld complaints that the posters gave a "realistic impression of a dead child" and were likely to distress young children.

The promotional campaign also included television and livestreaming advertisements showing a body being removed from a sarcophagus and a woman in distress as a greying hand with long brittle nails brushes her cheek. The television advert concluded with a mother saying "I just want my daughter back" and had been cleared by Clearcast for broadcast after 7.30pm. Many complainants reported that both the posters and video content were distressing for children and adults.

Warner Bros stated the campaign had been prepared with "due responsibility to consumers and society" and was not designed to create fear or distress. The studio explained that the character depicted was a "living mummy" returned to her parents years after being kidnapped as a child, and said the poster used a neutral facial expression to reduce distress. The ASA noted that whilst one billboard was visible from a children's nursery, the posters had not been placed within 100 metres of schools.