Maajid Nawaz Brands ASA Decision To Ban Advert As "Censorship"

14 August 2019, 13:24

Maajid Nawaz thinks the Advertising Standards Authority was wrong to ban an advert over "gender stereotyping" because it was a joke and he can think for himself.

Maajid was speaking about an advert which was banned due to gender stereotyping. Picture: LBC

After the Advertising Standards Authority banned an advert which showed two dads leaving a baby on a conveyor belt, because they were distracted by cream cheese, Maajid Nawaz asked one caller if he remembered when David Cameron left his baby in a pub.

The caller, Craig, said he did remember, and Maajid asked why the banned advert not seen as "mocking people like him."

Craig said that research from the ASA showed that "putting these stereotypes out there repeatedly is harmful."

He said that "seeing the lady with the pram, may lead women to think that's their place in the world."

But, Maajid didn't agree, he said banning things was "taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut," he said when the decision was made, it was done by people who subscribe to "intersectional theory."

He said that the point was that people have multiple identities, and while the advert showed a "bumbling" father who forgot his child on a conveyer belt like "David Cameron did when he was PM."

But, Maajid said it was a good thing that the advert showed a male as a dad "looking after his child."

"There's always more than one way to look at a joke," Maajid said, "and that's where censorship fails."

"It tells me how to interpret an event, and I can think for myself."

Watch the whole exchange in the video at the top of the page.