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Jun 1, 2016
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ASA bans "sexually suggestive" Jack Wills ad

Published
Jun 1, 2016

Jack Wills, the young British fashion brand, has had an ad banned by the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA.)


Photo: Jack Wills


ASA said that the fashion brand's spring catalogue featured "images of male and female models in their underwear drinking, dancing and on a bed together. Text at the top stated “UNDERWEAR … Pure and comfortable cottons, or flirty delicate laces, whatever your choice, you can be sure it’s what’s underneath that counts …”. Large text at the bottom stated “… midnight MISCHIEF”. The ASA said another ad showed models on a bed, with one male model topless and one female model wearing a bra with a strap falling off her shoulder.

The complainant suggested the images were inappropriate for publication in a clothing catalogue that was targeted at, and seen by, teenagers. Jack Wills responded that their brand was targeted at 18- to 24-year-old university students and not at younger teenagers.

The catalogue was addressed and sent to the complainant, not her children, and was delivered in a sealed, opaque paper envelope, the brand said. It also said that the images were not sexualised or  provocative.

Jack Wills said it didn't consider the claims “Pure and comfortable cottons, or flirty delicate laces; whatever your choice, you can be sure it’s what’s underneath that counts …” and “A favourite tee and your boxers, or a lounge short and bra; this is loungewear made for the morning after the night before” to be sexually suggestive or inappropriate, because they accompanied images of a group of friends having fun together.

But the ASA upheld the complaint, stating: "Because we understood that younger teenagers could have both direct and indirect access to the catalogue, and because we considered the images and text were sufficiently sexualised to be inappropriate for that audience, we concluded that the ad was irresponsible and that it breached the Code."

The ad can't appear again in its current form, and Jack Wills has been warned not to use sexualised images and text that were inappropriate for younger teenagers in ads to which those teenagers could have access.

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