Ad description
A poster for Great Grass, an artificial grass supplier, seen on 5 September 2022, featured headline text which stated, “ARTIFICIAL GRARSE EXPERTS” Underneath was an image of a woman wearing only thong-style underwear lying on grass with text which stated, “Perfect 365 days a year Get laid by the best”.
Issue
The complainants, who believed the ad objectified and sexualised women, challenged whether the ad was offensive, harmful and irresponsible.
Response
Great Grass MCR Ltd t/a Great Grass said that “Get laid by the best” was the strapline they had used for years and the claim “perfect 365 days a year” meant that they believed their grass was perfect all year round.
Great Grass said it was noteworthy that there had only been three complaints when the ad had been seen by thousands of people. They therefore believed that most people were not offended by the ad but found it amusing. They believed the complaints were generated by people on social media encouraging others who likely had not even have seen the ad, to complain about it. Great Grass also said that to assume that the person featured in the ad was a woman was wrong and offensive to the transgender community.
Vision Advertising, the media owner, said that Great Grass had been using the slogan “Get laid by the best” on their marketing material for many years, and it meant that they believed they were the best at laying artificial grass. They said the image of the person sunbathing on their new lawn was not offensive as that was something that most people would do. They did not believe that the ad objectified and sexualised women and they also said that identifying the person in the ad as a woman was debatable and a matter of opinion. Vision Advertising confirmed they had received no complaints.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that those who saw the ad would understand that it featured a woman. The model was dressed only in underpants and was lying on her front on the grass which exposed her buttocks. Large text above the image stated, “ARTIFICIAL GRARSE EXPERTS”. We noted that the word ‘grass’ was spelt incorrectly to include the word “arse”. We considered that was likely to be understood by readers to be a reference to the model’s buttocks and had the effect of making that exposed part of her body the focus, thereby drawing attention to the ad.
The ad also stated, “Get laid by the best”. We considered “get laid” would be understood by readers as a slang reference to sexual intercourse. We considered that text, together with the model’s pose and state of undress, was sexually suggestive and would be seen as presenting the model as a sexual object. We acknowledged that while sunbathing, people might recline on a lawn wearing revealing clothing. However, we considered that in the context of the ad, in particular the references to “arse” and “get laid”, the model was portrayed as a sexual object, rather than someone who was sunbathing.
For those reasons, we concluded that the ad objectified and stereotyped women as sexual objects, was irresponsible and likely to cause serious offence.
The ad breached CAP (Edition 12) rules
1.3
1.3
Marketing communications must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society.
(Responsible advertising),
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: age; disability; gender; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; and sexual orientation. 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.
and
4.9
4.9
Marketing communications must not include gender stereotypes that are likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offence.
See Advertising Guidance: “Depicting gender stereotypes likely to cause harm or serious or widespread offence?”
(Harm and offence).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Great Grass MCR Ltd t/a Great Grass to ensure their future ads were socially responsible and did not cause serious or widespread offence, including by featuring a harmful gender stereotype by objectifying and sexualising women.
