§ 48 Russell Square,
§ London, W.C.1.
§ 17th December, 1962.
§ The Rt. Hon. Earl Ferrers,
§ House of Lords,
§ Westminster,
§ London, S.W.1.
§ MY LORD,
§ Lord Luke has asked me to write you in connection with the Question set down for to-day in the name of Lord Francis Williams concerning the Joint Censorship Committee of the Poster Advertising Industry.
§ He apologises for not writing you personally, and also for the fact that he is unable to be in the House to-day.
§ I enclose a copy of an article which appeared in the August 1960 issue of "Signs & Outdoor Advertising" which sets out the history of the Committee, its terms of reference and its objects, which I hope will give you information to help in any reply you give to Lord Francis Williams.
§ As his Question refers to recent decisions of my Committee, I give below a few facts concerning them.
§ 1. The Committee recently banned posters issued by the "Sunday Citizen" referring to a series of articles on Western Germany, the reasons for the ban being that they constituted an attack on a member of a Government, and were also calculated to wound the susceptibilities of foreign peoples. I must emphasise as strongly as I can that, despite allegations to the contrary, no pressure of any kind has been placed upon my Committee in regard to their decision.
§ 2. The Committee has also recently banned three posters issued by the Ministry of Health concerning lung cancer. These all contained the statement that "cigarettes cause lung cancer". This is, in the opinion of my Committee, undue exaggeration. They appreciate that a great deal of evidence has been adduced to show there is a link between lung cancer and smoking but they are not aware that there is positive proof that cigarettes do cause lung cancer. They would be perfectly willing to display, as they have done in the past, posters stating that cigarettes may cause lung cancer, and naturally they would reconsider their recent decisions if and when positive evidence is forthcoming to substantiate the wording of the rejected posters. Here again, I must point out that no outside pressure of any kind has been brought to bear to influence my Committee in its decision.
§ One final point which I wish to stress is that the decisions of my Committee apply only to sites owned or controlled by members of the constituent Associations.
§ I shall be pleased to give any further information you may wish to have on the matter.
§ Yours faithfully,
§ (Signed) H. H. MALLATRATT,
§ Secretary.
655§ Article from Signs and Outdoor Advertising, August, 1960