A clothing brand Missguided has been told by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to not use advertising that objectifies women in future campaigns.

Recently, I lodged a complaint with Ad Standards. Using its online complaint form, I reported a larger-than-life, porn-themed advertisement on display in my local shopping centre in Perth, WA. A week later, I received a notice from Ad Standards advising that while the ad was of concern to me, the Community Panel Chair considered that is was “an image of a woman in lingerie”, and that my complaint was of the type that has been “consistently dismissed” by the Community Panel.

In yet another display of inconsistent decision-making, the Ad Standards Community Panel has dismissed community complaints against a porn-inspired Honey Birdette ad.

Inconsistent rulings show ad industry self-regulation failure

Refuses to submit complaints re porn styled image for review

Peter Allen. Steve McCann. Damien Frawley. Stephen Conry. Bob Johnston. Adam Tindall. Ross Robertson. Kevin O’Sullivan. Grant Kelley. Mark Steiner. Daryl Browning. Darren Steinberg.

These are the leaders of our local family friendly shopping centres - lessors to and profiteers from sex shop Honey Birdette. Hosts of public displays of porn-themed imagery. Facilitators of all-age viewing of larger-than-life-sized porn-style pics.

Yesterday I took two of my children into town for ice cream. This is what they were exposed to on a busy Perth street.

And its because you bothered to speak out

*Update* A prominent city strip club has been ordered by City of Adelaide to remove an offending advertising screen following complaints

South Australian MP Frank Pangallo has called out a porn-themed video advertisement being broadcast in Adelaide’s CBD.

The video, which was broadcast during the day in the CBD, is an advertisement for strip club The Firm.

Mr Pangallo said the advertisement should be banned or moved from public view:

"Council seem to jump immediately on traders who may have inadvertently breached outdoor or indoor seating/dining regulations but here they are turning a blind eye to blatant sexploitation and soft porn on one of our most prominent boulevards and tourist precincts."

City of Adelaide associate director of planning and development Shanti Ditter said that the council does not approve advertising content, and recommended complaints be directed to Ad Standards.

However, Ad Standards continually fails to be effective. Ad Standards regularly dismisses complaints against sexist and sexually objectifying advertising because there is "no explicit nudity", and permits sex industry venues to advertise pornography and prostitution to children on the basis that the advertising is "relevant to the product". The advertising industry has proven time and again it cannot be trusted to regulate itself. This is what industry self-regulation looks like- a strip club broadcasting video in the CBD during the day to an audience that will likely involve children. 

Thank MP Frank Pangallo on Twitter here or Facebook here

See also:

25 Reasons Why Ad Industry Self-Regulation is a Disaster

In previous years, sex shop Honey Birdette Christmas shopfront ad campaigns have typically featured Santa Claus. One depicted the beloved children’s icon on his back being straddled by a lingerie-clad model, another with him tugging at a model’s underwear, and another BDSM-themed scenario shows Santa bound and gagged alongside a model in red lingerie.

It’s safe to say that our expectations for 2018 were low.