Southampton car importer Jap Car South has its advert banned after watchdog rules name is a 'racial slur'

From the Newshound archive · first published 23 September 2026 · last updated 24 September 2026.

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned the website advert of Southampton-based Jap Car South, ruling that the word "Jap" in its name was likely to cause serious racial offence. The family-run business, which has traded since 2020 importing vehicles directly from Japan, was forced to apologise to "any members of the public" who were offended. A single complaint triggered the investigation after the firm's website was viewed on May 26. The ASA also condemned the company's logo, which featured the name superimposed over a stylised sun resembling the Japanese rising sun flag.

Jap Car South argued "Jap" was simply an abbreviation for Japan, saying it had never received complaints from customers in the UK or Japan.

The ASA rejected that defence, ruling that good intentions and a clean complaints record were irrelevant to how consumers would experience the term.

The watchdog found that the word had become strongly associated with hostility toward Japanese people during and in the aftermath of the Second World War, and is now widely regarded as a racial slur.