Beckham's pants escape advertising ban

By Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith, campaignlive.co.uk, Wednesday, 04 April 2012 09:25AM

A digital poster ad featuring David Beckham in his underwear has been cleared by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after complaints that the images were offensive and irresponsible.

David Beckham: poster ad for his H&M underwear range cleared by the ASA

The ad, created in-house, featured three images of Beckham modelling his H&M underwear range.

Three complainants claimed the ad was offensive, while two complaints called it irresponsible and not fit for children to see.

However, H&M claimed that the outdoor sites booked for the campaign were chosen to reach a target audience of 18- to 39-year-olds, and were planned away from schools.

The ASA said that the ads did not show any nudity, nor were they overtly sexual, and dismissed the complaints.

Soho-based chip shop Golden Union spoofed the ads for National Chip Week in February, with an adaptation appearing to show Beckham eating chips in his pants. 

Follow Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith on Twitter @LoullaMae_ES

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk