The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

ASA

SaveMoneyOnCars.co.uk advert banned for objectifying women

Author

By The Drum Team, Editorial

September 13, 2011 | 2 min read

An online advert for SaveMoneyOnCars.co.uk has been banned by the ASA for objectifying women by showing a topless woman with the tagline “You know you’re not the first ... but who cares?”

The advert showed a woman who was topless with her breasts and part of her stomach covered by a black sheet, with further text saying “Save a packet on nearly new cars, all under 3 years old. Many with just one careful owner ...”

SaveMoneyOnCars.co.uk (SMOC) said they appreciated that there was at times a fine line between innuendo and sexism. However, it believed the ad was cheeky rather than offensive. It said the majority of visitors to the site, which had been over a million during the period the ad was displayed, had not complained.

It said the image was not gratuitous and showed less skin than could be seen in many other ads or on the street on a summer’s evening. It believed the ad did not objectify women but used innuendo to refer to the past lives of cars and people; a car was still a great car even if it was two years old and people were not any less appealing as a result of previous relationships. SMOC said, however, the intention had not been to cause offence and had therefore removed the ad and would not use it again in future.

The Advertising Standards Authority concluded that the ad, which objectified women through sexual imagery and innuendo in a manner unrelated to the product advertised, was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

ASA

More from ASA

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +