Pub slammed for using Nazi imagery to promote German food night

A pub in Darlington has been raked over the coals for using Nazi imagery to promote its German food night.

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has upheld complaints against the Buck Inn, which promoted a ‘German Grub Night' with a poster of images depicting a Nazi soldier performing a Nazi salute, with an image of the chef superimposed onto the soldier's face.

The Durham pub argued it was not promoting the Nazi party or mocking the Second World War. The pub also said the ad was seen on Facebook by more than 500,000 people, and the fact that only three complaints were received indicated most people had interpreted the ad in the intended way.

The ASA decided the use of Nazi imagery in a humorous tone was inappropriate and trivialised the events of the Second World War and actions of the Nazi party.

It also said the ad appeared to link German culture with Nazism, and was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

The pub was also criticised for uploading a picture of an article criticising the poster to its Facebook page, which the ASA said "trivialised" the reported offence. As well as this it had liked comments made by other users to its Facebook page, many of which contained distasteful jokes and puns referencing the Holocaust,which the ASA said was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

The ASA instructed the Buck Inn not to use Nazi references or imagery in advertising, and to ensure offensive comments made by other users on its Facebook page were not ‘liked'.

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