An advertisement claiming that donations to an animal welfare charity would help British troops in Afghanistan has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)

The ad was placed by the Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad (SPANA) and argued that the help in looking after livestock it provided to rural farmers in Afghanistan helped to win the hearts and minds of the people, against the influence of the Taliban, and that this improvement in relations was of benefit to troops fighting the Taliban.

The ASA, in upholding the complaints argued that the ad was likely to mislead donors into believing that money they gave would directly assist British troops, something they could find no evidence for.