Louis Vuitton bag campaign comes unstitched
A Louis Vuitton newspaper campaign by Ogilvy & Mather has been banned after the Advertising Standards Authority ruled they misleadingly implied the fashion labels products were stitched by hand.
Two separate press ads were run and both were slammed by the watchdog following three complaints from the public.
One depicted a woman stitching a handbag handle and was emblazoned with the words: “The seamstress with linen thread and beeswax.” This was deemed by the watchdog to imply Louis Vuitton bags are handstitched.
The other showed a woman manually folding a wallet alongside the words: “The young woman and the tiny folds.” This was felt to create a false impression that Louis Vuitton wallets are handcrafted.
In response Louis Vuitton claimed that the ads were a: “homage to the craftsmanship which was carried out every day by Louis Vuitton's artisans” and stated that they believed the images to: “accurately reflect what takes place in the workshops.”
Both ads have been deemed to have breached regulations relating to truthfulness and must not be seen again in their current format.