Inclusion of the words ‘English freedom’ underneath controversial character was likely to contribute to offence caused by advert, says ASA

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A newspaper ad for an Enid Blyton gift shop featuring a golliwog has been banned after the advertising watchdog found it was likely to cause serious offence.



Corfe Castle’s Ginger Pop shop – which describes itself on its website as “all about Enid Blyton and her era” – ran an advert in local Dorset paper the Purbeck Gazette. It featured an illustration of a golliwog holding a pint of ginger beer with text underneath reading “English freedom”. Underneath this it read “Visit our shop and get the tea towel”.

Two readers, who believed the depiction of the golliwog character was racist, complained to the Advertising Standards Authority that the ad was offensive.

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The shop’s owners said they did not accept that the golliwog represented negative racial stereotypes, claiming it had a long history with origins in a children’s book in the late 19th century. They believed the character in the original books and on Robertson’s marmalade badges was heroic and was an aspirational role model, but acknowledged it had become stereotyped over time.

They also provided a letter from a supporter and a comments book from their shop, which they said showed most passers-by were positive about the fact they sold golliwogs.

Ginger Pop had produced a tea towel intended to celebrate 120 years of golliwogs, which it said included words far removed from the minstrel doll stereotype.

The Purbeck Gazette said it had checked the legality of the ad prior to running it and had been told it was within the law. It had not directly received any complaints.

The ASA said it understood that there had been some local controversy around the tea towel, and that the ad was a reference to that. However, it did not consider that all readers would be aware of that background.

It said “many people were likely to view the character as representing negative racial stereotypes” and its inclusion in a press ad was “likely to cause serious or widespread offence”.

Including the words “English freedom” was likely to make this worse because “in combination with the image it could be read as a negative reference to immigration or race”.

The ASA therefore banned the ad.