o An ad for Surrey Police that suggested hearing a crying baby was not a reason to dial 999 has been branded as irresponsible and banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)

A complainant pointed out that noise from children crying could be a sign that they were in danger.

o A Royal Mail ad that was intended to raise awareness of identity theft has been banned by the ASA for being too frightening.

The ad showed a gang of balaclava-wearers threatening bank staff with baseball bats in a robbery, an approach that the ASA said was “excessively threatening and distressing”. It was shown during Coronation Street.

o Virgin Active apologised to a ballet dancer who appeared in an ad for their gyms after staff at the company airbrushed out her permanent cochlear implant.

Simone Welgemoed, 27, who was born deaf was furious with the omission, made without her permission, and said that it made it look as though Virgin were only happy to welcome to their gyms people without an obvious disability. Virgin Active agreed and reinstated her original image for their ad.