Offence taken? Nun intended!

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned an ice cream company from placing posters near the Pope's itinerary, or anywhere else for that matter, saying it mocked Roman Catholic beliefs. The advert showed a pregnant nun eating ice cream in a church, together with the strap line "immaculately conceived". In a riposte to this decision, the advert's creator Antonio Federici, a UK-based company, says it will place them outside Westminster Abbey.

The ASA said in its ruling, "We considered the use of a nun pregnant through immaculate conception was likely to be seen as a distortion and mockery of the beliefs of Roman Catholics. We concluded that to use such an image in a lighthearted way to advertise ice cream was likely to cause serious offence to readers, particularly those who practised the Roman Catholic faith." Emm?!? Why only Roman Catholics? This is where the whole concept of giving offence is often misunderstood. It would help if the ASA had an idea of who might be offended. I'm not, but the ASA doesn't know if I might be because they passed over the Anglican Catholics, the Orthodox, and many others. In fact, all credal Christians believe in the Immaculate Conception.

I bet the ASA don't know about Anglican nuns. Is it an Anglican nun in the poster? If so, could she offend Roman Catholics by being just that? And are the Abbey authorities going to say anything about these posters? Could be offensive to Anglicans. I see a can of worms now instead of ice cream. Oh dear!