Can ‘public morals’ prevent the use of religious symbols and motifs in advertising? No, says the European Court of Human Rights
The first ad Is the prohibition to use in advertising the image of Jesus and Mary on grounds of public morals an undue compression of one’s own freedom of expression? This is essentially the issue that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) had to address in Sekmadienis v Lithuania (Appl No 69317/14) . In yesterday’s judgment the Court answered … in the affirmative. The decision is interesting because the ECtHR reviewed the application of freedom of expression within Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in the context of commercial advertising and in light of the vague concept of ‘public morals’. Background The applicant, Sekmadienis, is a Lithuanian clothing company that in 2012 ran an advertising campaign featuring three advertisements: 1. The first showed a young man with long hair, a headband, a halo around his head and several tattoos wearing a pair of jeans. A caption at the ...