A life insurance advert featuring prolific serial killer Harold Shipman has sparked outrage online. The promotion ad by DeadHappy, which involved a picture of the prolific murderer, was dubbed 'despicable and unacceptable' by the great-grandson of one of Shipman's victims.
The ad features an image of the GP who was convicted of the murders of 15 of his patients in 1999 - but it's thought he may have killed as many as 250 victims during his time working in Greater Manchester. He was found dead in his cell in 2004.
The DeadHappy ad was accompanied by the words: "Life insurance: Because you never know who your doctor might be." The ad sparked outrage online, including on Twitter, where it was called 'appalling' and 'despicable'.
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Tim Hill, a relative of one of Shipman's victims, said in a tweet: "As someone whose relative was murdered by Harold Shipman, your latest advert utilising his image is despicable and unacceptable. I hope you enjoy yet another judgement from @ASA_UK and change your practices.
"Beggars belief this was signed off. I've seen some of their shock tactics before as I'm clearly in their target audience but this is obscene."
A tweet by Kathryn Knowles, founder of insurance broker Cura, said she would be reporting the advert to the Financial Conduct Authority and the advertising watchdog.
"There is a firm that is promoting life insurance using the picture of a mass murderer to promote their services," she wrote. "Please know that many of us in insurance find this beyond despicable."
The ad sparked further outrage on Twitter, as another person wrote: "Deadhappy life insurance. Can standards be any lower? To say this is in poor taste is a massive understatement."
Another added: "It’s absolutely appalling, with no consideration for the loved ones of those who were murdered."
Responding in a statement, Andy Knott, DeadHappy founder said: "In our attempt to be provocative and make people really stop and think about their need for life insurance, we have made a mistake and for this we apologise. We will now go away and immediately review all of our current and future marketing campaigns to ensure that we learn from this mistake."
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