Background
THIS RULING REPLACES THAT PUBLISHED ON 18 MAY 2022. THE IDENTITY OF THE ADVERTISER AND RESPONSE SECTION HAS CHANGED BUT THE DECISION TO UPHOLD THE COMPLAINT REMAINS.
Ad description
An ad for online clothing retailer Young&Healthy, that appeared on NewsNow’s website on 5 February and MailOnline’s website on 1 March, stated “Source with Alibaba.com” and featured an image of a young female model wearing makeup and high-leg, string bikini bottoms with a triangle string bikini top. Alongside that were two smaller images of adult female models – one wearing a swimsuit, and one wearing a bikini.
Issue
Two complainants, who believed the child featured had been portrayed in a sexualised way, challenged whether the ad was irresponsible.
Response
Guangzhou YH Sporting Goods Co. Ltd t/a Young&Healthy did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Alibaba.com explained that the ad had been drawn from Young&Healthy’s listings on their platform. They said the image used in the ad had violated their policies and they had taken action to remove it from their website.
NewsNow Publishing Ltd t/a NewsNow said the ad appeared on their website after being served programmatically, via open marketplace, but that they had been unable to identify the specific ad network that had served the ad. Prior to the ASA’s enquiries, a website user had contacted them on 1 March 2022 to complain about the ad appearing. Following the complaint, they immediately enacted internal procedures to try and find the ad. They were unable to find it, but reported that it had not appeared on their website since the complaint.
Associated Newspapers Ltd t/a MailOnline said the ad had been served to its website programmatically, via open marketplace, but that they had been unable to identify the specific ad network that had served the ad.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Guangzhou YH Sporting Goods Co. Ltd's lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to provide a substantive response to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
Upheld
The ASA considered that the young model in the ad appeared to be in the age range 7 to 11 years and was definitely under the age of 18.
We noted the image showed a full body image of the young girl wearing a bikini bottom in a high-leg cut that exposed her upper thighs, hips and midriff. The model, who was looking straight at the camera, also wore makeup and posed with her head at a slight angle, pushing her hair behind her ear in a coquettish manner. While not overtly sexual, we considered the pose was quite adult for a model who was clearly under the age of 18. We considered that the model’s pose, in conjunction with the revealing clothing and makeup she was wearing, had the effect of portraying her in a sexual way.
Because we considered that the ad depicted a person who appeared to be under the age of 18 in a sexual way, we concluded it was irresponsible and breached the Code.
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. (Social responsibility) and 4.8 4.8 Marketing communications must not portray or represent anyone who is, or seems to be, under 18 in a sexual way. However, this rule does not apply to marketing communications whose principal function is to promote the welfare of, or to prevent harm to, under-18s, provided any sexual portrayal or representation is not excessive. (Harm and offence).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Guangzhou YH Sporting Goods Co. Ltd t/a Young&Healthy to ensure their future ads did not include images that portrayed or represented anyone who was, or seemed to be, under 18 years of age in a sexual manner. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
