A life insurance firm based in Leicester has apologised and removed a social media advert that featured serial killer Harold Shipman following a backlash.
A picture of the British GP who was convicted of 15 murders, but is suspected to have killed hundreds more, was featured alongside the words: “Because you never know who your doctor might be”.
Shipman was a trusted family doctor in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, who was convicted of murdering 15 female patients in 2000 by injecting them with a lethal dose of morphine.
He is thought to have killed more than 200 people over three decades. He died in prison in 2004.
The online advert was branded “tasteless” and “disgusting” online and viewers said they had reported it to the Financial Conduct Authority.
A family member of one of Shipman’s victims said the advert was “despicable and unacceptable”.
The advert has since been taken down and is not in use anymore, DeadHappy said.
In response, DeadHappy founder Andy Knott said the company takes “risks” and “sometimes we may step over the line”.
“Death is still a taboo subject in our society which is why we feel so passionately about ‘changing attitudes to death’.
“We do take risks with our brand and sometimes we may step over the line, whatever or wherever that line may be, and whoever chooses to draw it.
“We are called DeadHappy and our strapline is ‘Life insurance to die for’ so we are aware of the provocative (and to some the very shocking) nature of our brand.
“But being provocative is different to being offensive and it is of course never our intention to offend or upset people. It is our intention to make people stop and think.
“If however you have been personally distressed by this advert we do sincerely apologise.”
