ASA bans Jack Wills underwear catalogue ads over 'sexualised' and 'inappropriate' images
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a series of “irresponsible” promotional images from retailer Jack Wills for being “inappropriate” for young people and “sexually suggestive”.
Featured in the brand’s catalogue mailout, the images depicted young people drinking and partying in their underwear. The accompanying text read: "Pure and comfortable cottons, or flirty delicate laces, whatever your choice, you can be sure it’s what’s underneath that counts," while a strapline underneath in larger writing said "… midnight mischief".
The watchdog investigated the ad following a complaint from a parent who argued that the images were unsuitable for publication in a clothing catalogue that was aimed at, and seen by, teenagers.
Defending the campaign, Jack Wills said that its brand was targeted toward 18 to 24-year-old university students, and not younger teenagers. It also highlighted the fact that the publication had been directly addressed to the parent who complained and not her children.
The retailer contested that the ad was a “reflection of the life stages” of its target audience and showed a group of friends “enjoying a weekend away, relaxing with each other and enjoying a pyjama party.”
The watchdog, however, upheld the complaint, noting that the sequence of images, in conjunction with the text, was “sexually suggestive as opposed to simply being flirtatious or playful.”
Given that younger teenagers could have both direct and indirect access to the catalogue, and because the ASA considered the images and text to be “sufficiently sexualised to be inappropriate for that audience,” the ads were found to have breached guidelines around responsible advertising.
Jack Wills has been told that it must not show the promotion again in its current form.