Spiked.com seem to think so.

In an interesting article entitled ‘Commercial Brake’ - Sandy Starr writes:

“Since its launch at the end of 2003, the ‘unified regulator’ the Office of Communications (Ofcom) has been happily banning advertisements.”

Starr points out that responsibility for television advertising will shift in November 2004 to come under the Advertising Standards Authority, but notes that Ofcom will maintain oversight and has in its judgments to date set the tone of interpretation of code on advertising.

According to Starr:

“You don’t have to offend a specific minority in order for Ofcom to find your ad offensive - just going against the prevailing orthodoxy is sufficient.”

In addition, Starr feels that Ofcom has taken a contradictory approach when adjudicating on complaints based on a heightened sense of political correctness, questioning the regulator’s position as an arbiter of taste in commercial markets.

It’s a fair point, since as Ofcom themselves never fail to point out the market is often the best regulator. I suspect that adverts that truly offend the public - and the majority of people would be offended by adverts that genuinely mocked a minority group - would be unlikely to increase sales.