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An ad listing produced on Boohoo's website has found itself at the center of a controversy. The product listing for the T-shirt showed a female model wearing an oversized tee with thong-style bikini bottoms and no pants. The advertisement has been banned for causing widespread offense or harm by objectifying women.
The advertisement used a controversial and non-traditional approach to advertise a T-shirt. It showed the model kneeling and sitting on the ground with her legs spread apart.
Boohoo ad controversy with ASA: Drama explained
One of the images in the advertisement was an upper-body picture with the model lifting the tee and exposing her stomach and side. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a complaint regarding these images, saying the images sexualized and objectified women, making the ad harmful, irresponsible, and offensive.
Boohoo listed the images as part of their swimwear category and explained the cause of the model wearing a tee and a bikini. The brand also said they understood the importance of the issue raised and eventually removed the images from their official website.
The Advertising Standards Authority said that it understands that even if the ad was posted in the swimwear category, the product image posted was of an oversized tee and would appear in the search results for tops and t-shirts.
The regulator explained,
"We also noted that neither the partial nudity nor the bikini bottoms were relevant to the product and that the images did not show the product as it would usually be worn."
The authority added,
"For those reasons, we concluded that the ad objectified and sexualised women. It was therefore irresponsible and likely to cause serious offence."
The ASA came to the conclusion that the ad must not appear again and added,
"We told Boohoo.com UK to ensure that future ads were prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society, and that they did not cause serious or widespread offence or harm by objectifying women."
In response to the complaint, a spokesperson for the label said,
"We are disappointed by the findings of this ruling because we pride ourselves in our inclusive, body positive imagery. Our marketing reflects the vibrant and confident culture of our brand, and is not designed to intentionally cause offense. We removed the associated images from our website when we received details of the complaint from the ASA."
However, this is not the only time the brand has been involved in such a complaint. In 2019, for an ad that was supposed to market clothes in a range of skin tone colors, Boohoo emailed all the customers with an ad that used the phrase,
"Send nudes, set the tone with new season hues"
What are your thoughts with how this situation turned out?
