The UK’s advertising watchdog has banned a campaign by an online investment company predominantly targeting Muslims that featured images of euros and US dollars and the words “The United States of America” in flames alongside a call to “join the money revolution”.

Wahed Invest Ltd, an online investment platform, ran six posters on various Transport for London (TfL) services, including the London Underground and on buses, last September and October.

The posters featured dollars, including the words “The United States of America”, and euros on fire with text stating “Join the Money Revolution”.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the ads would have been seen by many people, including visitors from the US and eurozone countries. The authority received 75 complaints that the campaign was offensive.

In its response to the ASA’s investigation, Wahed said that its platform allowed consumers who were predominantly Muslim to invest in an ethical manner which aligned with their faith and values, a major component of which was not charging consumers interest on loans.

The company said the burning of banknotes was designed to be a powerful visual illustration to show that when inflation grew faster than the rate of savings money was akin to “going up in flames”.

A poster stated: “Charging people to borrow money was once called exploitation. Sadly, that perception has changed and now interest has caused a massive wealth gap, enriching the few while the majority get poorer. Join the growing community moving their money to a fairer system.”

Wahed, which launched in the US in 2017 and is backed by the oil company Saudi Aramco and the French footballer Paul Pogba, said it believed all viewers of the ads, not just Muslims, would have understood that expression and that the campaign did not criticise specific groups.

The ASA said the UK code of advertising practice stated that adverts must not contain anything that was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

The ASA said the advert’s appearance on London transport was an untargeted medium and they were likely to be seen by travellers and holidaymakers.

It said: “Although we acknowledged Wahed Invest’s view that they had not directly criticised a specific group, and that depictions of burning banknotes were commonly encountered, we considered the burning of banknotes would have caused serious offence to some viewers.”

The ASA banned the ad campaign, concluding it was likely to cause serious offence.

Source: The Guardian