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American Apparel ad banned for sexualising a child

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By John Glenday, Reporter

December 12, 2012 | 2 min read

The Advertising Standards Authority has moved to ban an American Apparel advert which ‘appeared to sexualise a child’ – just days after a similar advert fell foul of the watchdog for the same reasons.

The full page ad appeared on the back cover of Vice Magazine and depicted a girl pulling on a sock, exposing her pants in the process.

No stranger to controversy the fashion retailer regularly employs models who appear to be below the age of 16, although the model in this instance was over 18.

Defending their ad American Apparel said that the publication was aimed at an adult market and the clothing depicted (what little of it there was) were aimed at adult consumers.

The retailer went on to stress that no nudity was depicted and said that there was nothing overtly sexual or inappropriate about the photograph.

In their adjudication the ASA said: “Whilst we acknowledged the image did not contain any explicit nudity, we considered that the amateur style of the photo, the posing of the model with her legs up on an office style chair with her knickers showing and the unsmiling expression on the model’s face meant the photo would be interpreted as having sexual undertones and a voyeuristic quality.

“We concluded the ad inappropriately sexualised a model who appeared to be a child and was therefore irresponsible.”

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