A series of ads from online Halal investment platform Wahed Invest Ltd featuring images of burning US dollars and euros have been banned by the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The posters appeared on various Transport for London’s (TfL) services in September and October 2024 with the tagline “join the money revolution”. The ASA received 75 complaints from viewers who found the ads offensive.

In defense of the ads

In the ruling, Wahed Invest acknowledged that the ads were thought-provoking, but denied they were offensive. They said that the burning banknotes “symbolized the devaluation of money due to inflation” and that the purpose of the ads was to show “when inflation grew faster than the rate of savings, money was akin to ‘going up in flames.”

Furthermore, Wahed Invest said the ads had not criticized specific groups and that they used US dollar and euro banknotes because they were amongst the most recognized currencies in the world. The motivation of the ads was to promote ethical investing as defined by Islamic law. The firm also believed the burning of money was a commonly understood concept.

TFL said it believed the ads complied with TfL’s ad policy and the CAP Code. After receiving some complaints it paused all campaigns from Wahed Invest pending the outcome of the investigation.

TFL advertising partner Global said it reviewed the ads internally and submitted them to the CAP Copy Advice team, who considered they were unlikely to raise issues under the CAP Code. It said it had not received any complaints about the ads and that the ads were no longer appearing.

ASA’s ruling

After an investigation into Wahed Invest’s campaign, ASA ruled that the ads were likely to cause serious offense to people from the US and eurozone countries.

The CAP Code stated that ads must not contain anything that was likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Particular care must be taken to avoid causing offence on certain grounds, including race (which includes nationality).

ASA noted that the ads were displayed on widely used public transport, including the London Underground, which would have exposed them to a large and diverse audience, including tourists.

Although ASA acknowledged Wahed Invest’s view that it had not directly criticized a specific group, the regulator concluded that “using the images of burning US dollars and euros, even symbolically, was likely to be viewed as disrespectful and offensive by many people who considered their national currencies to be symbols of national identity.”

Wahed Invest has been instructed not to run the ads again in their current form and to ensure that future advertisements do not cause serious offense.

The ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 4.1 (Harm and offence).