Ice cream firm's kissing priests advert is banned

An ice cream company has been banned from using an advert showing two priests who are about to kiss — a month after being ordered to pull a campaign featuring a pregnant nun.

The latest Antonio Federici ad, which appeared in Look magazine, showed two priests in full robes eating from a tub of ice cream "in a seductive pose as if they were about to kiss passionately", the Advertising Standards Authority said.

Accompanying text read: "We Believe in Salivation".

The company said it was not mocking Catholicism but had "reflected the grave troubles they considered affected the Catholic Church".

Antonio Federici said it was a Catholic company, but would continue to produce advertising that challenged the Church while it believed it remained troubled.

Thee ASA upheld six complaints about the ad, and noted that it used the text "We Believe in Salivation" in reference to the taste of the product and to the image of the priests.

It said: "We considered the portrayal of the two priests in a sexualised manner was likely to be interpreted as mocking the beliefs of Roman Catholics and was therefore likely to cause serious offence to some readers."

The watchdog ruled that the ad must not appear again and told Antonio Federici to ensure future campaigns were not likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

The company's last advert showed a heavily pregnant nun standing in a church holding a tub of ice cream and a spoon, with text stating "Immaculately conceived" and "Ice cream is our religion". It appeared in The Lady and Grazia magazines.

The ASA said last month that the ad was "making a mockery" of the beliefs of Roman Catholics.