Advertising Standards Bureau Review of Operations 2014 | Page 35

In the Board’s view an image of a naked man
riding on the back of a woman and raising his
hand to smack her bottom, similar to the action of
a jockey whipping a horse, (Mardi Gras Sydney –
0032/14) had no clear connection to the product
advertised. In its view the depiction of someone
on all fours was an image consistently considered
by the community as a sexualised image suggestive
of one person dominating another. The Board
determined that the advertisement employed
sexual appeal in a manner which was exploitative
and degrading.

Relevance to product
Advertisers should use caution depicting
sexualised or nude images when there is no direct
relevance to the product.
An advertiser’s apology (Good Time Burgers –
0018/14) to a previous upheld decision (0416/13)
was viewed by the Board as a humorous response
to its previous decision. In this case on the left
cheek of the woman’s bottom, there is a cut
out portion designed to look like a burger. On
the right cheek is the name of the company
“Goodtime”. In comparison to upheld cases where
text and imagery was found to be exploitative and
degrading, the text in conjunction with the image
in this case gives a humorous context which in the
Board’s view did not amount to an image which is
exploitative and degrading.
In the Board’s view a television advertisement
which asks the question “Have we got your
attention?” after showing a woman in a bikini
holding a fishing rod (Regal Marine – 0129/14)
did not amount to a depiction that would be
considered both exploitative and degrading to
women, although there was little relevance to the
fishing equipment.
The Board noted that some members of
the community may not approve of an
advertisement promoting an online dating service
(COUGARLIFE.COM – 0498/14) featuring
women chasing a man along a beach to the
soundtrack from the movie, “Chariots of Fire”.
Complainants raised concerns that the
advertisement is sexist in its depiction of
women chasing a man. With the tagline for the

Review of Operations 2014

advertisement being, “where the women chase
you,” the Board considered the depiction of
the women chasing a man was relevant to the
advertised product which is a dating website
where men can register to date older women
(‘cougars’). The Board noted the beach setting for
the advertisement and considered the women’s
swimming costumes were appropriate to the
circumstances and that the women are depicted
as powerful and confident and not depicted in a
manner which is exploitative and degrading.
Although sex industry products and services
are possibly offensive to some members of the

community, the Board view is that it is reasonable
to expect advertisements to include images of the
associated products, services or activities. A large
poster (The Firm Gentleman’s Club - 0163/14)
showing a woman wearing stockings and a
g-string, another poster (Erotique Adult Centre
- 0258/14) showing two women, one wearing a
black basque, stockings and suspenders and the
other wearing a pair of red lacy knickers sitting
on her heels, with her arms covering the side view
of her naked breasts, were both found to not be
exploitative and degrading. Women who pole
dance was one of the entertainment features of
a club (Club Shoop – 0153/14) and as such the
Board viewed an image of a woman posing on a
pole as not exploitative and degrading.

product. The Board noted the product is sold in
a bottle shaped like a ribbon bow and considered
that the use of t he ribbon on the woman was in
reference to this and was not intended to depict
her as a gift. Similarly, in an advertisement in
which a woman is shown laying on her side with
wrapped Christmas presents in front of her (Ella
Bache – 0535/14), the Board view was that in
the context of a skin product the depiction of a
woman exposing a significant amount of her skin
was not exploitative and the image itself did not
portray a woman in a manner which is degrading.
The depiction of a woman wearing lingerie which
fully covers the model’s private areas, to promote
a lingerie store (Honey Birdette – 0300/14 and
0386/14) were advertisements aimed at women,
and was in the Board’s view not inappropriate.
In both of these cases, the Board view was that
the images did not amount to images which use
sexual appeal in a manner which is exploitative
and degrading. The Board also took this view with
a poster advertisement (Bras ‘n’ things - 0419/14)
featuring female models pictured in an outdoor
setting wearing black, beige or brown bras
and underwear.

Fashion and lingerie
The Board has consistently noted that advertisers
have the right to use images of women in lingerie
in order to sell their underwear products as long
as it is not considered exploitative and degrading.
In 2014, the Board dismissed complaints under
Section 2.2 for an outdoor advertisement (French
Connection - 0169/14) that features an image of
two women in two poses; one where they are fully
dressed, the other with sketches of the clothes
over their naked bodies. The Board view was that
the imagery was stylised and highly creative and
that it was typical of imagery used in fashion
magazines and in the fashion industry.
A poster where a naked woman is covered in bows
and ribbion like a present (L’Oreal Australia 0175/14) was also considered by the Board as a
highly stylised image, consistent with a fashion

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