A POSTER featuring a Swastika-wearing caricature to promote a pub’s German night has been banned for “trivialising” the Second World War by using Nazi imagery.

The advert produced by The Buck Inn, in Sadberge, near Darlington, attracted criticism for featuring a Nazi cartoon soldier with its right arm raised in a Nazi salute next to the line: “Don’t Mention Ze War!”

The contentious advert was first posted on the pub’s Facebook page in September 2017, with a spokesman for The Buck Inn stating the poster was not intended to cause offence.

However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received three formal complaints over the ad on the grounds it was offensive.

An investigation was launched into the poster, with the ASA stating carried a colour scheme that resembled the “stylisation and colours typical of Nazi imagery”.

The Buck Inn maintained the original post was inspired by an episode of Fawlty Towers and was meant to be light-hearted and humorous and in no way promoted the Nazi party or “mocked” the Second World War.

The ASA acknowledged the phrase, “Don’t mention the war”, was a “fairly well-known” quote from the popular sitcom, Fawlty Towers.

"However, we considered that the use of an image of a Nazi soldier wearing a swastika and performing a Nazi salute to advertise the pub's German cuisine night, in a humorous tone, was inappropriate and trivialised the events of the Second World War and actions of the German Nazi party," the ASA said.

"Furthermore, the ad appeared to link German culture intrinsically with Nazi Germany and the war."

The Buck Inn noted that only three complaints had been submitted to the ASA, despite more than 500,000 people viewing the Facebook ad.

The ASA has ruled that the poster must not appear again.

A pub spokesman previously stated no complaints had been made to the pub but “apologised sincerely” for any offence caused.

During the German night held in October, the pub created a burger using German ingredients and offered a traditional German menu.

The Northern Echo has contacted The Buck Inn for comment.