WATCH: This Femfresh Advert Was Banned For Objectifying Women And It's Actually Wild
12 July 2017, 13:17
This is very WTF.
Femfresh. I guess there's only so many ways you can advertise the stuff before you need to get creative and start thinking outside the box (so to speak). That said, the brand's latest advert has landed the company in a lot hot water after it was banned for objectifying women.
The ad in question were promoting Femfresh bikini line shaving products which appeared on on-demand players like ITV and 4oD in March and April 2017. It featured several woman wearing briefs and swimwear dancing - no problem with that, right?
Well, it wouldn't be a problem except the 30-second video is almost entirely close-ups of the women's crotches. You barely even see the women's faces. It's just crotches. Crotch after crotch after crotch.
GIPHY
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK said 17 viewers complained that the ad objectified women and portrayed them in an overly sexualised way, and was therefore offensive and socially irresponsible. And we gotta say, we think they might have a point.
Church & Dwight UK, which owns Femfresh, justified the ad by saying the dance sequence was choreographed by a female choreographer and featured moves regularly performed during dance warm-ups, yoga, Pilates and other forms of exercise. It claimed close-up shots were used to illustrate that the product could give consumers a smooth bikini line.
I mean, sure. But I'm sure you could have done that while also avoiding a whole 30 seconds of close ups.
The ASA said: “Even taking into account the nature of the product, we considered that it had been presented in an overly sexualised way that objectified women. We concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious or widespread offence and therefore breached the code."
Do you think the ads objectified women or are they just a bit weird? [h/t The Independent]
