Britain's Advertising Standards Authority likes to get worked up about overly sexy ads, as it did with Sophie Dahl's famously nude 1970s Yves Saint Laurent ad or, more recently, with Beyonce's fragrance commercial.
Now the ASA has taken a more preventative step by banning the presence of such racy advertisements in the vicinity of schools. Said the British agency in a statement over the weekend:
The protection of children from inappropriate or harmful material sits at the heart of our work and the Advertising Codes. We are signalling a tightening of our approach in light of new evidence we have received from the public on what is acceptable in terms of sexual imagery on posters, and also in response to a Government commissioned report into the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood, the Bailey Review.
As the Daily Record reported, this means that advertisements posted with 100 yards of schools and nurseries must not contain overly sexual images.
The ASA provides quite specific guidelines as to what qualifies as sexual, stating that a woman in a bikini or a man without his shirt on is acceptable. What will likely be deemed unacceptable, according to the ASA, includes:
- Amorous or sexually passionate facial expressions
- Exposure of breasts, including partial
- Poses such as hands on the hips, gripping of hair in conjunction with a sexually suggestive facial expression
- Images of touching oneself in a sexual manner, such as stroking the legs or holding/gripping the breasts
- Suggestion in facial or bodily expression of an orgasm
So basically every fashion ad ever.
Is the ban on suggestive advertising near schools necessary for protecting children -- or an excessively strict crackdown? Tell us your thoughts below.