Lingerie ad banned for objectifying women

A poster ad for a lingerie retailer has been banned for objectifying women and being likely to cause offence.

The outdoor ad for Glasgow retailer Silks featured a woman in lingerie leaning forward to emphasise her bust, but only showed her body and not her face or head.

The ad, seen in December, was accompanied by the text “Tease the Season''.

A complainant said the ad objectified women and was offensive.

Silks did not respond to the Advertising Standards Authority's (ASA) enquiries.

Upholding the complaint, the ASA said the purpose of the poster was to advertise lingerie and it was therefore reasonable to feature a woman in limited amounts of clothing.

However, the ASA considered that the model's pose and the image, combined with the text, was sexually suggestive.

It said: “We considered that, by focusing entirely on the model's body without showing her head, and in the context of a sexually suggestive pose and byline, the image invited viewers to view the woman's body as a sexual object.

“For those reasons, we considered that the ad objectified women and we therefore considered that it was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.''

It ruled that the ad must not appear again in its current form.