Pancreatic cancer charity's ad could face investigation after 118 complaints

A controversial advert by a pancreatic cancer charity that showed patients wishing they had less a deadly form of the disease could face an investigation after receiving more than 100 complaints.

The Advertising Standards Authority will decide later this week whether to launch an investigation into Pancreatic Cancer Action's campaign after criticism that it is in bad taste.

In the ad, a man and woman, both with pancreatic cancer, are shown saying they wish they had testicular or breast cancer instead. Since the campaign first aired at the start of February, Kerry Harvey, the 24-year-old woman who appeared in the campaign, has died.

To date, the ASA has received 118 complaints about the advert.

The ASA will now judge whether the ad – which ran in regional press and online – has breached its advertising code on the grounds that it caused the public "harm" and "offence".

The negative reaction to the ad is part of a growing trend of complaints about charity adverts.

According to the ASA's latest annual report, the number of complaints about "non-commercial" advertising - the category in which charity adverts fall - grew 61% to 2,058 year-on-year between 2011 and 2012.

One of the most complained about charity ads in recent years, with 144 complaints, was a St John's Ambulance advert that followed the journey of a man diagnosed with cancer who underwent treatment and survived, only to die because no one knew basic first aid.

Responding to the possibility of facing a ban, Pancreatic Cancer Action said the campaign had now finished and that it had no plans at the moment to run it again in future.

Ali Stunt, the founder and chief executive of the charity, said the backlash to the advert had been "small compared to the positive comments we have been getting".

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