Ad description
A billboard poster promoting a gentleman's club stated "Bar & Club ... Club Oops ...! Corporate Gentleman's Entertainment ... Attitude & Class Does Matter ...! ... www.cluboops.co.uk". The ad included images of women in negative. One woman was shown in her underwear and another was naked with her body in profile. The ad also showed an image of a naked woman from the waist down with underwear pulled down around her thighs.
Issue
Three complainants challenged whether the ad was offensive, demeaning to women and unsuitable for public display where it could be seen by children.
Response
Club Spice Ltd t/a Club Oops (Club Oops) did not provide a written response to the complaint. They spoke to the ASA by telephone and said they believed that their agency, which had designed the ad and chosen the locations where it was displayed, was at fault. They said they would remove the poster and assumed that would resolve the matter.
Adnet Marketing, who owned the billboard site, also responded by phone only. They said they had not been aware of the images used in the ad and confirmed that it would be taken down as soon as possible.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA acknowledged that Club Oops intended to remove the ad from the site in question. We noted that one woman was shown in her underwear and the other two women were shown naked, one in profile and one from the waist down with her underwear around her thighs. We considered that the poses of all three women, and in particular the image of the woman from the waist down, were provocative and likely to be seen as sexually suggestive. In addition, we considered that a number of consumers were likely to believe that the image of just the lower half of a woman was unduly explicit and degrading to women. We considered that the ad was overtly sexual in nature and was likely to cause serious and widespread offence. We therefore concluded that the ad was unsuitable for public display, especially where it could be seen by children.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
1.3
1.3
Marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society.
(Responsible advertising) and
4.1
4.1
Marketing communications must not contain anything that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Particular care must be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age. Compliance will be judged on the context, medium, audience, product and prevailing standards.
Marketing communications may be distasteful without necessarily breaching this rule. Marketers are urged to consider public sensitivities before using potentially offensive material.
The fact that a product is offensive to some people is not grounds for finding a marketing communication in breach of the Code.
(Harm and offence).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form.
