Special constabulary ad banned for drugs slur to newsagents

A press recruitment ad for special police constables featuring a shop with a sign stating "sweets, mags, drugs" has been banned after a complaint that it implied local newsagents were involved in the drugs trade.

The press ad, which ran in the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald, was run by the National Policing Improvement Agency to try to recruit people to help reduce crime in their local community by becoming special constables.

Shot in front of a newsagent, the ad featured a policeman entering the shop, which had signage stating "sweets, mags, drugs". A footnote said: "It's your community. See what's really happening."



The Advertising Standards Authority received a complaint from the National Federation of Retail Newsagents that the ad was "offensive and misleading because it implied that small newsagents were involved in the drugs industry".

In its defence of the ad, the NPIA "expressed regret" that the newsagents' body was offended, adding that "most newsagents and staff were law abiding". However, the NPIA added that "the experience of UK police officers was that some criminality had been found in a small number of retail and business outlets".

However, the ASA considered that some people would interpret that the ad as "suggesting that small or local newsagents were likely to be involved in the drugs industry". The ASA banned the ad, deeming that it might mislead or cause offence.