Mothers beat fathers' group in ad dispute

Mothers won a victory over fathers yesterday in a dispute over whether the Mumsnet website promoted "anti-male" rhetoric which could foster hatred of men.

The Advertising Standards Authority banned the campaign group Fathers4Justice from repeating claims that Mumsnet encouraged the denigration of the male gender. In March, the group ran a press advert urging advertisers to boycott Mumsnet. It said: "The Mumsnet website carries abusive and distressing anti-male content which promotes gender hatred against men and boys."

The ASA ruled that the ad was misleading because Fathers4Justice could not show that Mumsnet had encouraged the posting of anti-male comments.