Actress Zawe Ashton and ex-BBC presenter Samira Ahmed prompt backlash by complaining about dead child in horror movie poster

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Zawe Ashton and Samira Ahmed have faced backlash after they complained about a tube station poster advertising The Mummy movie because of its 'impact' on children and bereaved parents. 

Actress Ashton, 41, and former BBC presenter Ms Ahmed, 57, both argued the poster - which shows a close-up image of a mummified girl - could affect grieving families who have lost a child. 

Ms Ahmed took to social media yesterday to tell her followers she has submitted a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority over the ad. 

Just hours later, Ashton - who is engaged to actor Tom Hiddleston - posted an even more scathing review of the poster on Instagram, claiming she was 'disturbed and sickened' by it. 

She wrote: 'I'm sorry, what FRESH HELL is this? Is this the level of normalisation the disturbing images of dead and mutilated children has become?

'Grieving families do not get to tune in and out of images like this. Their lives are not a film. Their loss disturbs their entire lives. HOW can a movie poster like this exist?' 

But social media users have been quick to defend the ad, with some branding those who object to it 'snowflakes'. 

'Should I put on a jacket, I feel like there's a blizzard about to start from a few snowflakes!', one joked on X. 

'I personally don't see the problem. It's a poster for a f****** movie,' another said. 

'Possibly the most woke tweet since Twitter began,' a third commented on Ms Ahmed's post. 

However, other commenters agreed with the criticism, claiming the poster scared their own children. 

One woman wrote: 'I'm usually very chilled about ads, but I have to echo Samira's sentiment. This absolutely terrified my three-year-old last week. No fast food, no women wearing sheer tights, but horror is fine?'

The woman referred to the UK-wide advertising ban on fast food, which came into force in January. 

Fashion advertisements are also subject to strict guidelines regarding irresponsible imagery or promoting unhealthy body images. 

Commenting on The Mummy poster, another viewer wrote: 'It's a photo-realistic image of a child corpse. If people can't understand how that might be distressing, it says far more about their brain rot than anything else.' 

A third said: 'I agree. My daughters would have been terrified by that picture when they were young. We would have had nights of crying and being too scared to sleep.' 

The posters were put up in London tube stations to advertise Lee Cronin's The Mummy, which will be released in cinemas tomorrow. 

In the film, the young daughter of a journalist disappears into the desert without a trace - until eight years later, when her family is shocked by her return. 

Within her criticism of the poster, Ashton added: 'My stomach DROPPED walking past this today and seeing it multiple times, including blown up on the tube platform. I was very grateful not to have my own children with me but watched other children absorb it. 

'I hate drawing more attention to his heinous image, but I am seriously sick to my stomach. Each child is someone's universe. Their first kicks, first smiles, first words...

'Do not let them blend the loss of thousands of universes in to images associated with fictional stories.' 

She continued: 'Please tell me you are horrified by this? Images like this are deliberate brain washing. Do not normalise the deaths of children. The THOUSANDS of children we have seen on our screens do not exist for entertainment. Do not normalise these images. It's part of a wider plan.' 

Ashton shares two children with actor Hiddleston, and the couple are engaged. 

Ms Ahmed told followers about her complaint just two days before the film's release, taking to social media platform X yesterday to share her views. 

In 2020, the presenter won a landmark sex discrimination case against the BBC, where she was formerly employed. 

She was paid £465 to present episodes of Newswatch, while her male colleague Jeremy Vine pocketed £3,000 a go for Points of View. 

In January 2020, a judge ruled in her favour at an employment tribunal in east London. 

The tribunal agreed that the work carried out by both Ms Ahmed and Mr Vine were largely similar, with both programmes lasting for 15 minutes and offering viewers the chance to air their opinions. 

At the time, the BBC argued they were 'not doing similar work', but agreed on a settlement in the case. 

The presenter has now written a Film Classics book called A Hard Day's Night, which is about the Beatles and came out on April 2 in the UK. 

A spokesperson for the Advertising Standards Authority said: 'I can confirm that we have received complaints about posters for the Mummy film, mainly challenging whether the ads are unsuitable to be seen by children. 

'These complaints are currently being assessed to determine whether there are grounds for further action but for clarity, we have not yet launched an investigation.' 

The Daily Mail has contacted Ashton and Ms Ahmed for comment.