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Atheist ads 'not breaking code' Atheist ads 'not breaking code'
(10 minutes later)
An atheist UK bus campaign which uses the slogan "There's probably no God" does not breach the advertising code, a watchdog has ruled.An atheist UK bus campaign which uses the slogan "There's probably no God" does not breach the advertising code, a watchdog has ruled.
The Advertising Standards Authority said it assessed 326 complaints. Some people claimed the advert was offensive to people who followed a religion.The Advertising Standards Authority said it assessed 326 complaints. Some people claimed the advert was offensive to people who followed a religion.
But the body concluded the campaign was unlikely to mislead or to cause serious or widespread offence. But the body concluded the campaign was unlikely to mislead or cause widespread offence and closed the case.
The campaign is backed by the British Humanist Association. The adverts were launched across the UK by the British Humanist Association.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said they would not be investigating the complaints about the campaign launched on public transport on the 6 January any further.
While some claimed the adverts were offensive and denigrated people of faith, others challenged whether they were misleading because the advertiser would not be able to substantiate its claim that God "probably" did not exist.
Driver refusal
However, the ASA ruled the adverts were an expression of the advertiser's opinion and that the claims in it were not capable of objective substantiation.
Although the watchdog acknowledged the content of the campaign would be at odds with the beliefs of many, it concluded that it was unlikely to mislead or to cause "serious or widespread offence".
The advertisements, backed by high profile atheists including Professor Richard Dawkins, were launched on 200 bendy buses in London and 600 other vehicles in England, Scotland and Wales.
Last week, Christian bus driver Ron Heather, from Southampton, Hampshire, refused to drive one of the buses carrying the atheist slogan and walked out of his shift in protest.