Alliance rapped by ad watchdog

THE ADVERTISING Standards Authority has ruled that a Countryside Alliance poster alleging that “59% say keep hunting” was misleading.

The CA had obtained this figure from a poll in which 18% of respondents agreed with the statement that “hunting should be allowed to continue because it is essentially a matter of civil liberties”.

Another 41% said they agreed with the statement that “allowing hunting to continue under regulation would strike a balance between civil liberties and animal welfare”.

The ASA said that the claim on the poster could imply that both groups were in favour of allowing hunting to continue unchanged and so decided that the claim was misleading.

The CA has appealed against the ruling and said it will continue to use the poll on which the advert was based.

The complaint against the poster was brought by the League Against Cruel Sports.