Job Ad With Real White Prison Officer and Black Inmate Banned for Depicting ‘Negative Racial Stereotype’

A general view of barb wire at the former Reading prison building in Reading, England, on Sept. 1, 2016. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The UK’s advertising regulator has ruled that a Facebook ad for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was likely to cause serious offence by reinforcing negative stereotypes about black men.

The ad for the MoJ’s Prison Jobs scheme, seen on June 25, featured an image of a white prison officer talking to a black inmate, with superimposed text stating: “Become a prison officer. One career, many roles.”