Sunday Times Supplement Ad Branded ‘Tasteless, Provocative And Blasphemous’

An advertisement for the first edition of a six-part photography supplement to be featured in the Sunday Times resulted in 140 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The ad, placed in the Times, was promoting a series called Heavenly Bodies which featured the photographs of Terry O’Neill. The photo in the advertisement, taken from O’Neill’s portfolio, featured a woman wearing a leather bikini and tied to wooden cross. Complainants to the ASA censured this as “tasteless, provocative and blasphemous to Christians.”

Times Newspapers said that it had not intended to offend or alienate its readers, but hoped to reach out and inform them. The picture, said the publishers, was reflecting Terry O’Neill’s view that the 1960s (when it was taken) was a decade that “crucified” womanhood because it valued women only for their sexuality.

However, the ASA decreed that the audience was not to know the historical context in which the picture was taken, or to necessarily understand the ‘symbol of martyrdom’ which the cross was representing. The Authority told Times Newspapers to avoid this type of approach in the future.

Advertising Standards Authority: 0171 580 5555