The government has apologised over the publication of an “inappropriate” and “offensive” poster encouraging the public to quit smoking after backlash from the Sikh community.
The poster – which was uploaded to the NHS website and has now been deleted – featured a stock image from the website Alamy of a turbaned Sikh alongside the wording “make 2025 the year you quit smoking”.
The Sikh Code of Conduct strictly prohibits the use of tobacco and other intoxicants.
In a comment sent exclusively to Sky News, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “This image was included in our Stop Smoking campaign materials in error and we apologise wholeheartedly for any offence caused.”
They added it was “never used on DHSC channels and the image has been deleted and we are putting processes in place to ensure mistakes like this do not happen again”.
While the content contains NHS branding, Sky News understands the poster was not commissioned by the public health service but by the Department of Health and Social Care, which runs the Better Health campaign.
In a message sent to Sikh Federation UK, Health Secretary Wes Streeting described the poster as “inappropriate” and “offensive”.
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He said he has “asked for a note setting out how this could have happened to ensure we put steps in place across the board to make sure similar mistakes aren’t repeated”.
Harwinder Singh of Sikh Education Council said “this a mistake from which one hopes the NHS and other government bodies learn from”.
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Mr Singh added he recognises that there are Sikhs – turbaned or otherwise – who smoke, however, “by using the image of a turbaned Sikh in this poster from amongst the general population, an association is made between smoking tobacco and the wider Sikh community specifically”.
