A life insurance firm said it wanted to “make people think” by using the serial killer’s image.
Image source, GMPA relative of one of Harold Shipman’s victims has condemned a life insurance firm for using an image of the serial killer in a social media advert.
DeadHappy used the image with the tagline: “Life Insurance. Because you never know who your doctor might be.”
Shipman is believed to have murdered up to 250 people during his time as a GP in Hyde, Greater Manchester.
Tim Hill, the great-grandson of one of Shipman’s victims, said the “trauma” of the ordeal was still with his family.
He said: “My family, most practically my mother, went through a lot of trauma during the inquiry.
“This isn’t something that’s in the distant past or outside living memory. It’s not something that should be joked about.
“The company should be held accountable, their their modus operandi seems to be to cause offence and create public outrage.”
‘Opened wounds’
Hyde MP Jonathan Reynolds said he was “disgusted” by the ad.
Mr Reynolds told the BBC that constituents began contacting his office on Monday night when the advert began appearing in their Facebook news feeds.
The MP contacted the Leicester-based firm on Tuesday asking that it be taken down, which it eventually was.
DeadHappy apologised, saying it was “of course never our intention to offend or upset people”.
Mr Reynolds said: “I am absolutely disgusted that DeadHappy thought it appropriate to use an image of Harold Shipman in their marketing campaign, making light of what was and remains an incredibly painful period for our area.
“My thoughts are with the bereaved families for whom this gross insensitivity has opened wounds that are still healing.
“DeadHappy call themselves industry disruptors. I call them downright disrespectful. I’ll be choosing insurance providers with a little dignity and empathy.”
The Advertising Standards Authority said it was reviewing more than 70 complaints about the ad.
Shipman was found guilty of murdering 15 patients under his care in January 2000, sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order. He was found dead in his cell in Wakefield Prison in 2004.
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