Revised ad Code of Ethics fails to bring repeat offender Honey Birdette into line

Billionaire business mogul Brett Blundy’s sex shop brand Honey Birdette has served up another round of porn-themed ads in family-friendly shopping centres around the country. As in previous campaigns, the floor-to-ceiling ads are sexualised and sexist: near-naked women reduced to body parts, undressed (bar a few straps and the odd transparent-mesh panel) and posed - legs spread and vulvas on show - for the male gaze. 

Sex shop brand's female face a front for male profiteers

Sex shop retailer Honey Birdette spouts a great deal about female 'empowerment'. Despite the talk, after 8 years, 42 breaches of the advertising Code of Ethics and numerous, exploitative PR stunts, the company is renowned for harming women - in its own ranks and in the communities it operates in. 

In 2010, manchester retailer Adairs decided that to broaden their brand from manchester retailer to a "lifestyle brand" they would need to expand their customer base. 

They used the Playboy Mansion collection as "leverage" to attract younger shoppers.

Introducing Playboy licensed merchandise and marketing the brand across various media platforms worked - the brand attracted younger customers and increased sales targets.

Playboy was no longer merely a ‘soft-porn’ magazine, it was - and is - a billion dollar global brand profiting from the exploitation and subordination of women.

In the 2000s, Plaboy had begun reporting losses. At one time, selling merchandise to "create a lifestyle" around the Playboy brand accounted for 50% of its sales. 

Adairs, like other brands owned by BB Retail Capital, selling Playboy branded merchandise helped prop up Playboy Enterprises, the once flailing porn label.

Read below for more on Adairs role in mainstreaming of pornography through selling Playboy.