ASA Adjudication on Officers Club 1979 Ltd

Ad

A prize promotion, displayed in the window of an Officers Club shop, stated "WIN A LADS HOLIDAY TO AYIA NAPA". It featured two photographs. One showed three girls smiling at the camera and was labelled "Ayia Napa 2011". The second photo showed a woman from the neck to the waist wearing a small bikini top and was labelled "Awesome Views". Text below stated "START 2011 WITH A BANG!".

Issue

1. Five complainants challenged whether the image of a woman's body in combination with the label "Awesome Views" was offensive, because they believed it objectified women.

2. Five complainants also challenged whether the ad was inappropriately placed where it could be seen by children.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

Response

Officers Club 1979 explained that the ad had appeared in all their stores throughout the United Kingdom. They acknowledged they had received a 'very small' number of complaints and explained that these complaints had been resolved by removing part of the imagery.

They said the ad had been targeted at "fashion conscious young males in the 16 - 30 age group..." and that the images were chosen to " reflect the nature of a so called 'lads' holiday to Ayia Napa ... and to attract the attention of our core consumer".

They acknowledged that the images were mildly provocative, but did not consider them to be indecent. They said that it was not their intention for the ad to cause offence.

Assessment

1. & 2. Upheld

The ASA acknowledged that the ad was a prize promotion related to a "lads" holiday. We considered that the sole focus on the womans chest, in conjunction with the text "Awesome views", was likely to be seen as gratuitous and to objectify women. We considered that the image was likely to cause serious offence to some and was not suitable to be displayed in an untargeted medium where it could be seen by children.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Social responsibility), 4.1 (Harm and offence) and 8.6 and 8.7 (Protection of consumers, safety and suitability)

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)