A distressed Mr Arneman apologised for the situation and said he had told the advertising agency to immediately pull the ad.

"I am sending a formal letter to the residents at Stroud Lodge explaining this situation and I will visit them personally as soon as possible," Mr Arneman said yesterday.

Stroud Lodge chairman John Bowen said it was "a terrible thing" to use film of residents who had died and "someone has to make an apology".

"This was filmed three years ago when Jim Arneman was running for State Parliament," Mr Bowen said.

"I was never happy about Jim Arneman coming to the site doing these sorts of things."

Mr Bowen confirmed the ad included images of Joe Marriott, who died in February this year, Gwen Redman, who died in May this year, and Daphne Allan, who died in July last year.

But Mr Marriott's brother, John Marriott, said the family were "dyed-in-the-wool" Labor voters.

"Joe would have been proud to be in the ad," Mr Marriott said. "Jim Arneman was a wonderful ambulance man and he personally saved me a couple of times with my heart," Mr Marriott said.

"If the people who complained about this bothered to contact the families first to find their reactions, maybe there wouldn't be any objections.

"And Bob Baldwin can go jump as far as I am concerned."

Mr Baldwin said people had complained to his campaign office about the Arneman ad and that his opponent should have checked his campaign material more closely.

"This is a sign that Jim Arneman is lazy, insensitive and out of touch with the community," Mr Baldwin said.

Mr Arneman confirmed the ad had been made a few years ago.

"Some of my other campaign material . . . did include people who had passed away previously, and as soon as it had become known I organised for the pamphlets to be pulped," Mr Arneman said.

"That the same fact-checking did not happen for this TV ad is a very regretful, unforgivable oversight."