Bloody Mary Banned in London!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9WtEmTLp1Y

A digital poster, which was placed on escalators on the London Underground, showed the infamous Queen sitting passively on a chair before suddenly turning into a member of the undead and turning to face towards tube passengers.

Four people complained that the zombie - complete with bloody gashes on her face, rotting teeth and red eyes - had terrified their children.

One man said his eight-year-old child was left terrified by the moving digital poster and another complainant said he had watched scores of kids reel in horror when they saw the poster.

The London Dungeon in south London was promoting a new show called 'Bloody Mary' - the daughter of Henry VIII who reigned between 1553 until 1558.

During that time she had 300 religious dissenters burned at the stake, earning her the title 'Bloody Mary', and dungeon bosses said the object of the ad was to 'show the dark side of her personality and portray her as a villain'.

But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that the poster ad should not be used again as it had 'terrified' children and breached fear and distress guidelines.

It said: "We considered that the morphing image, and the juxtaposition of a calm face with a very scary one, were likely to startle and frighten young children."

"We noted the switch between the passive and frightening face occurred suddenly and unexpectedly, which could increase the shock value.

"We also considered that when the face morphed into the scary character, the bloody gashes, white flesh, rotting teeth, red eyes and the threatening expression meant it was not suitable for young children to see.

"We were of the view that the ad seemed to be setting out to scare and had overstepped the limit of acceptability in doing so because, although not frightening for adults, the image was likely to be shocking to young children and to cause them fear or distress without good reason.

"We concluded that the ad was inappropriate for display in an untargeted medium."

Richard Sampson, 43, a father-of-two from Islington, north London, said: "These posters are totally unsuitable for children to see.

"They are effectively mini-horror movies showing a perfectly normal looking woman suddenly turn into a zombie."

A spokesman for the London Dungeon said that it had planned to use the digital poster during the rest of summer and Halloween, adding: "Bloody Mary killed over 300 heretics during her reign but was one of Britain's lesser known villainous figures, overshadowed by her notorious father Henry VIII.

"The object of the advertising was to show the dark side of her personality and portray her as a villain."