'Gratuitous' American Apparel ads banned
The advertising watchdog has banned an ad campaign by American Apparel featuring semi-naked young women, after investigating a complaint that it is "pornographic and exploitative".
American Apparel ran a series of eight ads on its website, and one in Crack, a free lifestyle magazine available from shops, featuring women in various states of undress, some topless.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a complaint that the images were "offensive … pornographic, exploitative of women and inappropriately sexualised young women".
American Apparel, which ran into a similar issue over its exploitative ad campaigns back in 2009, rejected the accusations, arguing that the images featured "real, non-airbrushed, everyday people" who were mainly not professional models.
The retailer, which argued that the young women were "clearly in their 20s", said that it believed the images were the type that "people regularly share with their ffriends on social networks and which normal people could relate to".
Nevertheless, American Apparel tried to argue the images fell outside of the remit of the ASA because they were "heritage advertising", and not actually part of a current campaign.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/apr/04/american-apparel-ads-banned-advertising-watchdog
NSFW link from the Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2125100/American-Apparel-warned-use-exploitative-images-women-ads-showing-models-exposing-breasts-buttocks-banned.html
Even in our era of highly-sexed advertising, AA is taking it way over the top...These girls are selling something, and it ain't clothing...
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