Watchdog bans Boohoo advert for 'objectifying women' after complaint
16.02.2022 - 09:45
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A Boohoo advert has been banned for being likely to cause 'offence' by objectifying women.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has made the judgment after a product listing for a T-shirt appeared on Manchester-headquartered Boohoo's website in November.
It showed a model wearing the top with only thong-style bikini bottoms and trainers.
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Images included an image from behind that showed her kneeling, another showed her sitting on the ground with her legs apart and a third was an upper-body shot that showed the model lifting the T-shirt as if to remove it and exposing the skin on her stomach and side, the PA news agency reported.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a complaint that the images objectified and sexualised women, and the ad was offensive, harmful and irresponsible, the PA news agency said.
In response, Boohoo said the images were part of its swimwear category and explained the model was wearing the T-shirt with a bikini.
The retailer said it understands the importance of the issues raised and had removed the images from its website.
The ASA understood that, although it had been presented as part of the swimwear category, the advertised product was an oversized T-shirt and the product listing appeared as a result of searches for T-shirts or tops.
The ASA said two of the images were "sexually suggestive" while the image of the model lifting the T-shirt to expose her stomach and side emphasised her exposed skin rather than the product.
The regulator added: "We also noted that neither the partial nudity nor the bikini bottoms were relevant to the product and that the images did not show the