‘Demeaning’ Ads Get Differing ASA Verdicts
Adverts which received complaints for being demeaning to either men or women have received different responses from the ASA this week.
A poster for the sparkling wine Lambrini showed three women laughing. The headline read “I lost 14 stone of fat last night” and continued “So you dumped him then”. Complainants felt that the ad was sexist and offensive because it demeaned and undermined men.
The advertisers claimed that the humour in the poster, one of a campaign of three, was acceptable for its target audience of 18-34 year old women. They also said that the text could suggest that the girls were talking about diets as well as relationships, despite the fact that 14 stone was a typical weight for a man. The Authority accepted that most people would interpret the ad as humorous rather than demeaning and did not uphold the complaint.
Meanwhile, advertisements for Laing Homes which appeared in House and Garden, Vogue, Tatler and GQ were accused of being demeaning to women. The treatment showed a series of polaroids of women in various states of undress, with details such as names, phone numbers and marks out of ten written on them. The headline for the ad read: “If they came back to your place, would they be impressed? If you’re always on the pull, you need a pad to match.”
The advertisers had in fact checked with the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) before running the ad, but it turned out that the copy submitted to the CAP was different to that which was published. Following complaints from readers, the publishers of the magazines said that the ad could not be run again. The Authority noted that the CAP had advised that the copy as submitted was likely to be acceptable to GQ readers and some Vogue and Tatler readers, but was likely to offend some readers of Homes and Gardens. The advertisers had also been advised to remove the marks out of ten on the polaroids.
The Authority considered the polaroids and the text on them objectified women and were likely to cause serious or widespread offence to readers of all the magazines they appeared in. It also expressed concern that the copy submitted to the CAP was not the same as that printed and that the advice to remove the marks out of ten had been ignored. The advertisers were told to follow CAP advice in future.
ASA: 020 7580 5555 www.asa.org.uk
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