Murder victim photos sent out as part of CSI push

by Louise Scodie,, Brand Republic 01-Feb-05, 07:00

LONDON - Five has been forced to scrap a DM campaign for spin-off crime drama 'CSI:NY' after a stream of complaints about the 'threatening' promotion, which included murder photos and stalker warnings.

Around 60 people complained to the Advertising Standards Authority following the campaign, which saw thousands of fake dossiers, including photos of murder victims and an email suggesting the recipient was being stalked, sent out to viewers across the country.

Five itself received another 100 complaints about the advertising material for the show, one of two spin-offs from 'Crime Scene Investigation' created by Jerry Bruckheimer.

The pack, created by 20:20 London, also included pictures of forensic evidence from a crime scene and a wanted poster, which had a 'CSI:NY' logo printed on the bottom.

A Five spokesman said: "It was obvious this material was promoting a drama. In light of the efforts we have made to make the nature of the contents so transparent, we are surprised a very small minority of recipients have mistaken it as anything else.

"Everyone who was sent this promotion has expressed an interest in receiving details about this particular genre of programming on various websites."

However, a spokeswoman for the ASA told Brand Republic that several people who complained said that "it was not clear that the material was an advertisement" and that those who contacted the ASA felt that the packs were "offensive, threatening and distressing".

A total of 55,000 of the promotional packs were sent out before the ASA asked Five to cease pending an investigation.

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