Not Getting the Full Picture

The United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned a Transport for London (TfL) Facebook ad because it showed a black teenage boy verbally harassing a white girl, which the ASA said reinforced a negative racial stereotype about black men as threatening. The ad was part of a campaign meant to get people to intervene safely if they see sexual harassment or hate crimes on public transport, but the ASA ruled it could cause serious offense and was irresponsible, even though TfL noted the full campaign included other scenes showing people of different races and situations.