This shaving product ad was just banned for being too ‘sexualised’

An advert promoting a company's 'Intimate shaving collection' has been banned in the UK.

Femfresh ran an ad on Channel 4 and ITV's on demand services earlier this year advertising their new line of bikini shaving products. It featured a group of women wearing gym gear, underwear, and swimsuits, and some bikini line close-up shots as the women danced around a workout area. The ad was promptly banned after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 17 complaints that its content was too sexualised. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ass--azzgUs The agency also heard from viewers that the ad objectified women.

"The ad focused to a large extent on the women’s crotches, with relatively few shots of their faces, and some of them wore high-cut swimsuits that were more exposing than many swimsuits."

While the ASA recognised that the ad included many moves that could also be featured in an exercise class, they concluded that the "thrusting dance moves" were highly sexualised and that the ad could potentially cause "serious or widespread offence." The company who own Femfresh, Church and Dwight Ltd, responded saying that they did not think the ad was offensive because the close-ups used showed how well the product worked.

"The ad was in a gym setting, and the dancers wore swimwear and gym clothes (...) 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."

The company also emphasised that the ad's target audience was 18-34 year old women who were "engaged in current fashion and music trends." Neither Channel 4 nor ITV received any direct complaints about the ad.