The Advertising Standards Agency has not upheld complaints over a series of controversial adverts by Pancreatic Cancer Action.

The adverts, which are no longer running, received 121 complaints with some people saying the statements such as “I wish I had breast cancer” were offensive or distressing.

Complainants, some of whom were cancer patients or knew someone who had suffered from cancer, said that the adverts implied that these other cancers were not serious.

Ali Stunt, founder of the charity and rare survivor of pancreatic cancer, said: "We are delighted with the decision by ASA.  Despite only nine insertions of the advert in London and Manchester press, the advertising campaign attracted global interest, and reached millions of people worldwide from the resulting coverage in various forms of media.  It was the most influential advertising campaign for pancreatic cancer to date."

The adverts stated that only 3 per cent of people survive the disease because of late diagnosis and that pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate of all 22 common cancers. The ASA said this was a consideration when making its ruling, as was the fact that the “I wish…” statements were genuine opinions of people living with pancreatic cancer. The adverts all featured real patients.

The ASA considered that the low survival rates put the quotes into context and that, as a whole, the adverts were unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence or unjustifiable distress.

Pancreatic Cancer Action said that it had no intention of running the adverts again and that the campaign aimed to provide an insight to the general public into how it feels to be diagnosed with a disease that leaves you with no hope.

It said that it did not take the campaign lightly and contacted different charities that related to the “I wish…” statements about the campaign to provide them with an opportunity to prepare for feedback for their communities.

Stunt added: "We are of course sorry if the tag line caused upset to anyone affected by the cancers mentioned in the adverts but, as we found with the majority of those we have engaged with, once the true message is understood, they will not see the adverts as a personal attack."

Team Darwin, the advertising agency that worked with the charity, spoke to people who had been affected by pancreatic cancer and researched it among key audiences. They concluded that once people understood the advert, the risk of genuine offence was very low. 

Following the adverts, Pancreatic Cancer Action's website had a 260 per cent increase in traffic.

The Metro and Evening Standard both published the adverts and said they had not received any direct complaints.

Kerry Harvey, a pancreatic cancer patient, passed away in February at the age of 24 after appearing in the advert series alongside the slogan “I wish I had breast cancer.”

Cancer charities had hit out against the campaign, with Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Campaign, saying she was “shocked and saddened” by the adverts.