Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
AN AD FOR controversial fashion chain American Apparel has fallen foul of the UK advertising watchdog for potentially sexualising children.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned an image which appeared on the company’s UK website for a “lips print cotton spandex sleeveless thong bodysuit”.
It had received a complaint that one of the ads showed a model from behind with her “buttocks visible” that was “irresponsible and offensive”.
The complainant said it showed a sexualised image of a female who looked like she was under 16 years old.
In response, American Apparel said the model was actually 20 and the ad showed the advertised product “from various angles and included an image of the thong component of the bodysuit”.
The company said it thought the image was consistent with standards for similar ads.
But the ASA banned the ad after finding the model had a “youthful appearance” and some viewers would probably think she was under 16.
“We considered that readers were likely to interpret the model’s expression and pose as being sexual in nature,” it said.
In conjunction with the youthful appearance of the model, we considered the ad could be seen to sexualise a child. We therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible and was likely to cause serious offence.”
It wasn’t clear whether the ad had been taken down this morning as images of two different models wearing the same item were still on the label’s UK website.
A history of controversy
The US company has repeatedly come under fire for its advertising tactics, which have included it accidentally using an image of the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster.
Last year it fired its own founder, Dov Charney, after he was accused of sexually harassing several employees.
It has repeatedly been criticised for using young women in overtly sexual poses for its ad campaigns, although it has also won plaudits for challenging fashion-industry norms through tactics like featuring over-6o underwear models and mannequins with pubic hair.
The latest ASA ruling follows a similar decision in the UK only six months ago over the company’s “back-to-school” range.
It found some of the images mimicked voyeuristic “upskirt” shots of schoolgirls.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Who does she want to invade next?
@steve white: she advocated the military intervention in Libya to address the humanitarian crisis caused by the then regime in Tripoli. She has a long record of fighting for human rights, but don’t let the facts get in the way!!
@Brendan: Life has gotten much better since the onset of the Arab Spring and the various other liberation campaigns, right across northern Africa and the Middle East.
@Brendan: yeah…. ‘the humanitarian crisis’ sure, hows Libya these days after the ‘intervention’?
@Fergal O’Hagan: So you think it wasn’t a humanitarian crisis when Gaddafi’s military goons started opening fire on and murdering masses of unarmed protesters?
Just trying to clarify. Thanks!
@Brendan: id say that alright, you can now purchase a slave in Libya for $200, thanks to the obama/Biden administration,
@Joe ryan: In fairness, you could purchase babies here much longer after we got self governance… few states move from colonial/dictator rule to normal governance without bloodshed and chaos.
Not that I’m excusing the lack of follow up in Libya from EU and US, forgot the golden rule: “you break it, you bought it”, lack of stabilising efforts after was totally wrong IMO.
@Brendan: how did that work out in the end? Would you say a stable regime was replaced by a slave trading hell? I would.
@▪️: governments tend to fight back when attacked by extremists. In any case the US has no moral leg to stand on. Let’s see if Power stops the war in Yemen.
@Tony O’Regan: the idea is always to break it not to mend it. In either case that’s just imperialism. Libya was stable and relatively prosperous for decades. The uprising was promoted by the US and the West, the rebels were always extremists, there were no democrats.
@Eugene Norman: Gaddafi’s government and military was FULL of extremists.
P.S. it’s not ‘fighting back’ when an army fires on hundreds of civilians for daring to protest a corrupt regime. That is absolutely disgusting. But I’d imagine I’m talking to a brick wall.
@Eugene Norman: BTW – just because the US has no moral leg to stand on (they don’t, obviously, they’ve backed many dictators when it suited them over the years) doesn’t mean that the people they occasionally oppose are then the good guys.
So many people fall into this trap and end up defending barbarians like Saddam and Gaddafi, and excusing or justifying mass murder like you just did. It’s horrifying.
@▪️: the government was a largely secular affair. The extremists were on the other side. Right now an an actual extremist country, Saudi Arabia, is helping Yemen bomb its own people with the help of the US, which is also facilitating a blockade. One that may kill millions. You Team America fans seem to only care about dictatorships that oppose the imperialists.
@▪️: we don’t defend “barbarians” like ghaddafi, we merely look at the results of imperialism. Libya and Iraq are worse now. Clearly. And the Iraqi disaster might be considered a mistake in 2003, but it’s clear by 2011 that toppling dictators in the region leads to worse results. As it would have in Syria. If there are UN resolutions against African or Middle Eastern countries let other African countries deal with it. South Africa and Nigeria probably could. The West, the US in particular is tainted.
@steve white: hopefully the north and get the brits out
@Joe ryan: can I have 2 please
She is some can of la la. Was hoping she’d be nowhere near a position of power again.
@Anto Harris: she would invade and destroy the entire world to save it.
You could sum this article up as ‘Arra shur’ faith ‘n begorrah isn’t he wan of our own! God bless yer honour sir…’
@William Tallon: it is the kind of article that would be written in any country if a person born in that country achieved high office in another country, particularly one as powerful as the US. The only thing a bit unique to being Irish here is your type of comment.
@Eugene Norman: I don’t think those articles could ever be as obsequious as those written about even the most tenuous Irish connection to power (no pun intended) in the U.S. usually are. It’s as if we’re supposed to feel privileged and celebrate or something. It all started with JFK and hasn’t let up since begob and musha tooraloora…
@William Tallon: you probably need to read other countries newspapers then.
@Eugene Norman: I’ve always found it somewhat bemusing the way many people commenting here feel the need to insult those they disagree with. A rather juvenile trait I’m sure you’d agree?
Power to all our friends.
Best of luck to her.
Are you sure that green hue isn’t the millions of dollars him and his family get from the vicious regime in Beijing? So liberal.
She’s American… nothing more
PSSSSST, A heads up, Biden won’t be president, he will be arrested for treason and sedition, hopefully they’ll wait till the 20th, so the world can witness it.
@Joe ryan: lol, you keep telling yourself that if you want
@Joe ryan: Since you failed to respond the last time on the article about Pence attending the Biden inauguration, I’ll ask again:
When you said the “the internet will go down very soon” and that all would be revealed “via emergency broadcast”, what specific timeframe did you have in mind for this? I just want to know so everyone can come back to your comment and laugh at it when it never happens.
@Joe ryan: don’t you get tired of being wrong all the time?
@Joe ryan: i saw dat Q sed dat to
@Joe ryan: do you never get tired or none of this stuff ever coming through mister q? I read all that stuff the last few days, it was supposed to happen Sunday or Monday the whole blackout thing, didn’t happen again so what now.
@Joe ryan: heads up, Q is a fake. In fact probably an intelligence fake because he is certainly not in the White House playing 6d chess with trump. He’s not even playing 0d naughts n crosses with Trump as that would be too difficult for the president unelect. It’s not joe smith from Connecticut either, as he would be exposed by now. You’ve bin played.
@Joe ryan: lol, Columbo going to turn around in the middle of the inauguration, “just one more thing ther’ Joe”
@Joe ryan: ooh sad…..
@Joe ryan: hahahahahahahaha
@Joe ryan: why ? I dont understand! What did he do to deserve impeachment ?
The unmasker extraordinaire of the last weeks of Obama administration
She wasn’t a child when she made the statement. I sure she still feels that way.
This woman makes me cringe , I heard her being interviewed for an American show and she said when she moved here from Ireland that she was ashamed of her irish accent and tried immediately to sound american that she wanted to be rid of her irish mess.
@brendan o connell: She was a child.
Excellent. A decent & distinguished woman who is sure to make a positive impact. And a paddy to boot!
An incredibly decent human being. Very best of luck to her.
Might squeeze a few bob off her…..
Good grief it has to be the sour grapes again! Can we Irish never give credit to our own always mud slinging, condescending and begrudging. All skills learnt to survive our past, but surely we are better than that now? Is there no essence of Christianity in us?
Meant irish ness , spelll check again
have your say