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| American Apparel ads banned for using overtly sexual images | American Apparel ads banned for using overtly sexual images |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| American Apparel has reinforced its reputation for paying scant regard to advertising regulations, with yet another ban for overtly sexual images that were judged to demean women on its website. | |
| The controversial US retailer, which has regularly broken advertising rules by using exploitative images of young women, featured a string of images of two women on the "advertising" page of the company website. | The controversial US retailer, which has regularly broken advertising rules by using exploitative images of young women, featured a string of images of two women on the "advertising" page of the company website. |
| The Advertising Standards Authority received complaints that the two models were shown in vulnerable positions, and that the images were offensive, overtly sexual and objectified women. | The Advertising Standards Authority received complaints that the two models were shown in vulnerable positions, and that the images were offensive, overtly sexual and objectified women. |
| American Apparel UK said it "did [its] best to abide by the standards of the industry" – despite having ads banned three times in just over four months – "as well as creating authentic, honest and memorable images relevant to their customer base". | |
| The ASA said the images of the scantily clad women were "gratuitous" and "overtly sexual". | The ASA said the images of the scantily clad women were "gratuitous" and "overtly sexual". |
| Of a series of six images of one of the models, the ASA said: "We considered the images were overtly sexual and that they demeaned women by emphasising the model's groin, buttocks and breasts and by not including her face." | Of a series of six images of one of the models, the ASA said: "We considered the images were overtly sexual and that they demeaned women by emphasising the model's groin, buttocks and breasts and by not including her face." |
| Of the image of the second model, the ASA said: "We considered the image to be gratuitous, particularly in an ad for knitwear." | Of the image of the second model, the ASA said: "We considered the image to be gratuitous, particularly in an ad for knitwear." |
| The regulator said that there was a "voyeuristic quality to the images, which served to heighten the impression that the women were vulnerable and in sexually provocative poses". | The regulator said that there was a "voyeuristic quality to the images, which served to heighten the impression that the women were vulnerable and in sexually provocative poses". |
| The ASA banned the campaign for breaching the advertising code under harm and offence rules. | The ASA banned the campaign for breaching the advertising code under harm and offence rules. |
| "We considered the ads were likely to cause serious offence to visitors to American Apparel's website," it said. "The ads must not appear again in their current form." | |
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