Fashion brand's ad banned for 'sexualized' image of young model
LONDON -- Adverts for a fashion brand have been banned by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority for featuring "sexually suggestive" images of a child-like model.
One of the ads for fashion company Nobody's Child showed a young female model dressed in a black jumpsuit looking directly into the camera with her mouth partially open and one breast partially exposed.
You May Also Like
The other advert featured the same model wearing a tartan dress, sitting on a chair with one leg slightly raised and looking directly toward the camera.
In both ads, large text stating "nobody’schild.com" was positioned beside the model's face.
Critics of the ads told the ASA that they believed the model's poses and facial expressions "sexualised someone who they considered to be a child" and stated that the images in conjunction with the text "nobody’schild.com" suggested the images were of "a vulnerable child."
"We considered that her poses and gaze in both ads were mildly sexually suggestive, and that her pose in ad (b) [featuring the gingham dress] in particular also suggested vulnerability," read ASA's ruling on the offending ad.
Nobody's Child argued that the model in the ad was 21 years of age, rejecting claims that the model had been sexualised.
"Nobody’s Child Ltd t/a nobody’schild.com said they appreciated that visual imagery was open to personal interpretation, but considered the model in the ads was not sexualised and would not be perceived as being a child or vulnerable," read the ASA's report.
In spite of the model's age, the ASA concluded that the model "appeared younger" and the image next to the prominent text "would be regarded as appearing to be a child."
"In that context, we considered that the model’s poses implied vulnerability and sexual precocity," the report stated.
"We therefore concluded the ads portrayed a model who appeared to be a child in a way that was sexually suggestive and could be perceived as being vulnerable. We concluded that the ads were irresponsible and likely to cause serious or widespread offence," the report continued.
Nobody's Child did not immediately respond to Mashable's request for comment.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Topics Advertising
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
