UK regulator bans The Mummy posters from public display

British advertising regulators have banned posters for the horror film "Lee Cronin's The Mummy" from public display, ruling that the imagery gave a realistic impression of a dead child and was likely to distress young children. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) announced its decision on August 5, 2026, following an investigation into 30 public complaints about the campaign that ran in April.

The posters, which appeared on the London Underground and at outdoor sites, featured a close-up image of a mummified female figure with grey, ashen skin, cracked lips, and one eye swollen shut, wrapped in a shroud-like material inscribed with hieroglyphic symbols. The tagline read, "Some things are meant to stay buried." The ASA concluded that the figure's sunken, lifeless face and recognizably human features created a realistic depiction of a deceased child, an impression heightened by the wrapping. The regulator noted that one poster was visible from a children's nursery, and because the ads ran in untargeted public locations, they were likely to be seen by young children.

Consequently, the ASA ruled that the posters breached advertising codes on social responsibility, harm, and...