Ad description
A product listing for a short sleeve sweater on clothing retailer MANGO’s app, seen on 29 December 2023, featured an image of a model wearing the sweater with their arms by the sides.
Issue
The complainant, who believed the model appeared unhealthily thin, challenged whether the ad was irresponsible.
Response
MNG-MANGO UK Ltd t/a MANGO did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by MNG-MANGO UK 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 respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
The model was shown wearing a short sleeved sweater with their arms by their side.
The ASA considered that the model’s upper body and hips appeared to be very narrow and there were gaps between her arms and body, accentuating her slender frame. Both of the model’s arms, which were visible from above the elbow, were very thin. Her upper arms appeared noticeably thinner above her elbow joints which protruded.
Because the model appeared to be unhealthily thin, we concluded that the ad was irresponsible.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Responsible advertising) and 1.7 (Unreasonable delay).
Action
The ad must not appear in its current form. We told MNG-MANGO UK Ltd t/a MANGO to ensure that the images in their ads were prepared responsibly and did not portray models as being unhealthily thin. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
