Glasgow lingerie retailer claims advertising watchdog has its ‘knickers in a twist’

The owner of a Glasgow lingerie boutique criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority for its Christmas poster, has accused the ASA of “talking pants.”

Marcella Louden of Silks, which has branches in Netherlee and Hyndland, says she is unclear as to why the Advertising Standards Authority has criticised her following one complaint.

The backlash followed the appearance of a single billboard at Clarkston Toll in December 2017, which featured the torso of a model wearing lingerie.

Marcella said: “I requested an image from one of my suppliers, Aubade, for use in my Christmas campaign. What I got was a close-up showing the delicate embroidery on a bra, brief and suspender set. There is a trend amongst brands at the moment for photographs in which the model’s head isn’t shown, in order to emphasise the product, so I never thought for a moment that anyone would find this image offensive.

“The set depicted was a premium product and was designed to appeal to women who want to wear something special under their Christmas party outfit.”

Almost all product shots on French lingerie firm Aubuade’s website feature neck-down images of both male and female models and in recent years there’s been a move towards featuring products without identifying the wearers. In 2015 Belgian labal A.F. Vandevorst sent models down the runway in Paris wearing motorcycle helmets and masks.

Marcella said: “Silks has been open for more than 30 years and I have owned it for the last 11 years. We sell high quality lingerie and swimwear and our clients include women who have had mastectomies or who need care products.

“We take great care with fitting and with providing the best service for our customers because we are in the business of making women feel good about themselves, not about objectifying them.”

No one complained to Marcella about the image; instead several customers commented favourably on it and she sold a number of the sets in the poster, each retailing at about £180.

“I did see an email from the ASA but it got lost amongst the bureaucracy of running a small business, which I do singlehandedly, I certainly didn’t ignore it because out of lack of concern about public opinion."