The healthcare company, Stafford-Miller, has been condemned as
irresponsible by advertising watchdogs who have accused it of
encouraging violence against women.
The row blew up after the appearance of a poster for Louis Marcel
depilatory cream, which showed a woman clad in underwear and carrying
the headline: ’I like my men rough, not my legs.’
Eighty-four people complained to the Advertising Standards Authority
about the ad which, they claimed, encouraged violence by suggesting that
women liked to be treated roughly.
This week the ASA said that although the campaign, produced by Grey, was
acceptable in women’s magazines, where readers would understand its
intention, the company was wrong to have extended the advertising to
posters.
Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s has been carpeted by the ASA over claims about GM
foods.
Its ruling followed complaints by the rival supermarket chains, Waitrose
and Iceland, over a Sainsbury’s press campaign claiming it was the first
major supermarket chain to start making all own-label food without
genetically modified ingredients.
The ASA accepted Waitrose and Iceland were the first to take such action
and rejected Sainsbury’s argument that neither could claim to be ’major
supermarkets’.
The ASA has also renewed its warnings to Benetton over its use of
attention-grabbing shock images.
It follows complaints about a magazine ad for its Sisley fashion brand
which appeared to show a man imitating sexual intercourse with a sheep
and a woman.
But Virgin Cola has escaped ASA censure over an ad by Rainey Kelly
Campbell Roalfe which, it was claimed, made innuendos about
masturbation.
