The six ads promoted Wahed, an online investment platform for those of Islamic faith, and featured Zimbabwean Islamic speaker Ismail ibn Musa ‘Mufti’ Menk – who previously described gay people as “worse than animals” – as well as Russian former Ultimate Fighting Championship star Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Displayed across the London Underground and bus network, the ads showed the two men surrounded by flaming banknotes with the words “Join the Money Revolution” located next to Wahed’s logo.
In October, TfL and London mayor Sadiq Khan came under fire for the ads because of Mufti Menk’s inclusion and the imagery of burning banknotes belonging to the United States and Eurozone countries.
The ASA, which investigated the matter, received 75 complaints from members of the public saying the ads were offensive.
In response to the complaints, Wahed told the ASA that the content of their adverts was “thought-provoking” and not offensive, explaining it acknowledged currencies were a symbol of national identity but believed their burning was not offensive as it is often portrayed in popular culture like film and TV and is a commonly understood metaphor for inflation.
TfL also told the ASA its advertising partners review all campaigns before they are approved to run on the network and in some cases an internal review also takes place. The transport company believed the ads in question complied with TfL’s ad policy and the CAP Code.
Following complaints about the ads, TfL said it paused all campaigns from Wahed pending the outcome of the investigation.
Issuing its decision, the ASA said: “We acknowledged Wahed Invest’s view that the burning of banknotes illustrated that money which grew at a rate lower than inflation decreased in value in real terms. The ads represented the expression that viewers’ money was ‘going up in flames’ and that images of burning money were commonly encountered.
“However, regardless of whether viewers would have understood that message or understood it as a defiant act designed to show a challenge to financial institutions, the currencies which were burned in all of the ads were clearly visible as US dollar and Euro banknotes. In the case of the US dollars depicted, in all instances the ads showed the words “The United States of America” in flames.
“The ads were shown on several sites across the TfL network, including on London Underground tubes, which was an untargeted medium, and they were therefore likely to be seen by many people. It was also a service regularly used by tourists.
“Due to the vast number of people who used TfL services and because London was a tourist hotspot, people from the United States or Eurozone countries would have seen the ads.”
The ASA continued by saying its considers that some viewers, particularly those from the United States or Eurozone countries, “would have viewed their nation’s currency as being culturally significant and a symbol of their national identity” and therefore “we considered the burning of banknotes would have caused serious offence to some viewers.”
“We therefore concluded that the ads were likely to cause serious offence,” the ASA said.
The ASA said Wahed’s ads must not appear in the forms which were complained about and the company was told to “ensure that future ads did not cause serious offence, including by featuring images of burning US dollar or Euro banknotes.”
Whilst Mufti Menk’s involvement in the ad campaign was not discussed in the ASA investigation, concerns about his past comments about LGBTQ+ people were raised by Conservative London Assembly Member Susan Hall at a Mayor’s Question Time in October.
“If Wahed had wanted to advertise their platform with a high-calorie meal on the Tube, it would be banned, but apparently a preacher banned from other countries for promoting religious discord is fine,” Hall said, referring to TfL’s advertising policies and the fact that Menk had been barred from Singapore and Denmark.
More than a decade ago, Menk denounced gay people as “filthy”, “wrong” and “worse than animals.”
The vile comments resulted in the cleric being uninvited from speaking at six British universities in 2013 and put him at the centre of a free speech row after student unions and members of staff expressed concerns about his views.
However, he has since retracted his comments in a statement posted on his website. “On the issue of LGBT, let me clarify the statement I made in 2011, which had me saying, ‘With all due respect to the animals, they are worse than those animals’, was based on a misguided notion. I no longer believe that to be true. I make a full retraction of that.”
In response to Hall, Khan said at the time he was “not aware” of the ad or its content. A spokesperson for Khan also said at the time the mayor has been “clear that there is no place for hate in London” and “strongly condemns any language which divides London’s amazing diverse communities.”
They continued: “The mayor has no involvement in approving or deciding which ads run on the TfL network, and TfL’s policy reflects legal requirements.”