Jews for Jesus, a Jewish group, had published this controversial print advertisement to address the Jewish community stating that there could be diversity of opinion among and orthodox Jews in Britain. The poster featured six Chasidic Jewish men, in front of a brick wall, one of whom did not have either a beard or side curls and who was wearing a red T-shirt with the logo ‘Jews for Jesus’. The campaign soon attracted fierce criticism from several quarters.
The complainants raised objections that the advertisements were insulting and racist towards Jewish people, for the most part because the poster appeared in areas with a high Jewish population. They also argued that advertisements was offensive because it depicted stereotyped Orthodox Jews as people who were unable to think for themselves. Some complaints considered the advertisements depicted the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem.
On the other hand, advertisers contended that argued that the advertisements did not suggest that Orthodox Jews did not think for themselves and they further stated that the advertisements reversed label by representing that there could be multiplicity of opinion among Jews and Orthodox Jews, who could believe in Jesus if they chose to.
The Authority acknowledged that many Jews opposed to the advertisers’ beliefs and were affronted by the aims and practices of the Jews for Jesus organization. However, it further ruled that there were inadequate grounds for objecting either to the location of the posters or to the content of the advertisements. Hence the complaints were not upheld.
