6:22 am, September 23, 2026
A car import company has had its website advert banned after an advertising watchdog ruled that its name contained a racial slur likely to cause serious offence.
Jap Car South, which specialises in importing vehicles from Japan, has apologised after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint about the use of the word ‘Jap’ in its company name.
The regulator found that the term was widely recognised as a racial slur against Japanese people and that its use in advertising breached rules designed to prevent serious offence on the grounds of race.
The ruling, published today (September 23), also criticised the company’s logo, which featured its name superimposed over a stylised sun similar to the Japanese rising sun flag.
The ASA said the image reinforced the derogatory reference to Japanese identity and added to the offensive impact of the advert.
The watchdog launched an investigation after receiving a complaint about the company’s website, which was viewed on May 26.
In response, Jap Car South apologised to ‘any members of the public’ who had been offended by the use of the word in its business name.
The firm said it had been trading since 2020 and dealt directly with the Japanese market when purchasing vehicles.
It explained that the word had been intended as an abbreviation of Japan or Japanese and that it believed customers would understand it in that context.
The company also said it had never previously received feedback from customers in either Japan or the UK suggesting its name was offensive.
It added that it had not intended to cause offence and did not wish to do so in the future.
However, the ASA ruled that the company’s intentions and lack of previous complaints did not change the likely impact of the advert on consumers.
In its ruling, the watchdog said: ‘We understood that the word “Jap” became particularly associated with anti-Japanese sentiment during and after the Second World War.
‘We further understood that it had a history of use as a derogatory term for Japanese people and people of Japanese heritage, and was widely recognised as a racial slur.
‘Because of those associations, we considered that its use in a marketing communication was likely to cause serious offence on the grounds of race.’
The regulator also raised concerns about the company’s rising sun-style logo, saying some consumers could associate the imagery with the former Imperial Japanese Army and Japanese military aggression during the Second World War.
While acknowledging that the image was legitimately used in various aspects of public life in Japan, the ASA concluded that its appearance alongside the racial slur was likely to make the offence worse.
The watchdog ruled that the advert breached the advertising code on harm and offence.
It ordered that the advert must not appear again in the form complained of and told Jap Car South to avoid causing serious racial offence in future marketing communications.