London: Wahed Invest's adverts exhibiting foreign money notes on hearth banned

Six adverts for an Islamic funding platform exhibiting financial institution notes being set on hearth have been banned after a regulator dominated it was more likely to represent a severe offence.

The Wahed Invest poster, seen on Transport for London (TfL) companies between September and November final yr, featured US greenback and euro financial institution notes on hearth.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) acquired 75 complaints that the adverts have been objectionable.

Wahed Invest mentioned its intention was to “spark thought and awareness” and acknowledged ASA's response on using worldwide foreign money.

The adverts featured photographs of Muslim preacher Ismail Ibn Musa Menk and Russian former skilled combined martial artist Khabib Abdulmanapovich, pointing to massive textual content stating “Join the Money Revolution” above Wahed's emblem.

Three posters present Mr Menk holding an open briefcase stuffed with US greenback and euro financial institution notes which is on hearth, two of which learn “Move from exploitation” and “Move from riba”.

Wahed mentioned that the burning of financial institution notes within the ads was deliberate to indicate that cash is “burning in flames” when inflation grows sooner than the speed of financial savings.

Wahed describes itself as an funding platform that enables predominantly Muslim shoppers to speculate in keeping with their beliefs and values.

It mentioned it usually makes use of the time period “riba”, an Arabic phrase that means “extra” and generally used to explain the prohibition of curiosity below Islamic regulation.

Waheed instructed the ASA that he accepted that currencies are an emblem of nationwide id however he believed that the burning of financial institution notes was not disrespectful and was portrayed in standard tradition similar to movie and TV.

The ASA mentioned the ads would have been seen by many individuals, together with individuals within the United States and Eurozone international locations who “may have considered their country's currency culturally significant”.

The regulator mentioned, “Although we accepted Wahed Invest's view that they did not directly criticize any specific group, and that the depictions of burning bank notes appeared generally, we considered that the burning of bank notes Some spectators may have been seriously offended.”

“We therefore concluded that the advertisements were likely to cause serious offences.”

A spokesperson for Wahed Invest mentioned: “We understand there may be a strong reaction to the visuals included in our campaign.

“While our intention was to spark thought and awareness, we recognize the importance of ensuring that messages connect positively with the diverse audiences who may consume them.

“We acknowledge and appreciate ASA's feedback on the use of international currency.”

TfL, which had halted all operations of Wahed Invest pending the result of the investigation, mentioned it might implement the regulator's findings “when considering any future operations”.

There are at the moment no Wahed Invest campaigns booked for its community.