Boohoo images banned by advertising watchdog for ‘objectifying women’

Fashion retailer Boohoo has had an advert banned for being likely to cause serious or widespread offence or harm by objectifying women.

A complaint was submitted to the The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), claiming that the model’s poses objectified and sexualised women. The complaint said the ad was offensive, harmful and irresponsible. 

Boohoo said the images were part of a swimwear range and the model was wearing a T-shirt and bikini. However, it did remove the images and said it understood. 

The advertising watchdog said two of the images were “sexually suggestive” while another image emphasised her exposed skin rather than the product.

It said: “We also noted that neither the partial nudity nor the bikini bottoms were relevant to the product and that the images did not show the product as it would usually be worn.

“For those reasons, we concluded that the ad objectified and sexualised women. It was therefore irresponsible and likely to cause serious offence.”The ASA ruled the ad must not appear again in its current form.

The watchdog also said: “We told Boohoo.com UK to ensure that future ads were prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society, and that they did not cause serious or widespread offence or harm by objectifying women.”