Wahed describes itself as an investment platform allowing consumers who are predominantly Muslim to invest in a manner which aligns with their faith and values.
It said it often used the term “Riba”, an Arabic word meaning “excess” and commonly used to describe the prohibition of interest under Islamic law.
Wahed told the ASA that it acknowledged that currencies were a symbol of national identity but believed the burning of banknotes was not offensive and was portrayed in popular culture, such as film and TV.
The ASA said the adverts would have been seen by many people, including people from the United States and eurozone countries, who “would have viewed their nation’s currency as being culturally significant”.
“Although we acknowledged Wahed Invest’s view that they had not directly criticised a specific group, and that depictions of burning banknotes were commonly encountered, we considered the burning of banknotes would have caused serious offence to some viewers,” the regulator said.
“We therefore concluded that the ads were likely to cause serious offence.”
Credit: Source link
