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The U.K.’s advertising regulator has slapped Warner Bros. for displaying Lee Cronin’s The Mummy movie posters it says are “likely to distress young children.”
Posters for the film had previously been displayed on the London Underground and on billboards across the U.K., prompting 30 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The matter was highlighted on social media back in April by BBC journalist and broadcaster Samira Ahmed, who said she had personally submitted a complaint to the ASA.
Numerous complaints stated that the poster’s imagery was too graphic, and displayed what looked like a dead and mummified child. The image showsed a grey-skinned girl with one eye partially closed, wrapped in ancient bandages. A tagline stated: “Some Things Are Meant to Stay Buried.”
Defending the posters, Warner Bros. stated that the girl was actually alive — or, technically, a “living mummy” (which sounds to me more like a class of undead?). Either way, Warner Bros. also argued that the poster showed the girl in a neutral facial expression, and did not depict violence.
The ASA, however, was having none of it. “Because the figure had recognizable human features, we considered that viewers were likely to understand it as a realistic depiction of a dead child,” it wrote. “We therefore concluded that the ads were unsuitable for outdoor display and therefore breached the code.”
Warner Bros. was also found to have broken a pledge to not place the advert within 100m of a school, as it could be seen directly from a nursery for small children.
Just submitted my complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority about this poster ad at tube stations. Why is there so little consideration of the impact of such images on children? (And one might add, on bereaved parents). pic.twitter.com/gjwca6YDdX
— Samira Ahmed (@SamiraAhmedUK) April 15, 2026
Other complaints about The Mummy’s advertising campaign were not upheld, however, including concerns around a TV commercial and similar online version. The ASA found that the advert had been targeted to air after 7.30pm, when young children were less likely to see it. The authority also dismissed additional concerns that the image would be unecessarily distressing to complainants who had lost a child themselves, or who were concerned about the child’s depiction in the context of ongoing global conflicts.
Following the ASA’s decision, the poster can no longer be displayed publicly in its current form. The authority has also instructed Warner Bros. “to ensure that future marketing that was likely to cause fear or distress to young children did not appear where they were likely to see it.”
IGN’s Lee Cronin’s The Mummy Review returned a 7/10. We said: “As ugly as it is amusing, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy takes the kind of tonal swings you rarely see from a Hollywood studio.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
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https://www.ign.com/articles/lee-cronins-the-mummy-movie-poster-banned-in-uk-for-depicting-realistic-impression-of-a-dead-child
Tom Phillips
Almontather Rassoul
