The Advertising Standards Authority has banned one of fast fashion retailer Warehouse’s ads as it ruled its model was “unhealthily thin”.
Watchdog bosses said the promo, which showed the model wearing a bodysuit and an oversized leather jacket, was “irresponsible” after it received a complaint about the image which appeared in a product listing on Warehouse’s website in February.
The model was seen in the ad with a jacket draped off her left shoulder and a high-cut bodysuit underneath exposing her legs.
Warehouse told the ASA it did not think the image showed the model as “unhealthily thin” and stressed she was a UK size eight and had a body mass index withing the NHS standard of a “healthy” weight.
The retailer also argued it was “wrong” to suggest “the image presented her in an irresponsible manner”.
According to the ASA, Warehouse also said it promoted body inclusivity and worked closely with agencies to hire a range of models who “represent women of all body types across the UK”.
The ASA ruled the model in the ad had a shoulder and upper arm that seemed “small” and “narrow”, and said her “collar bone and torso… appeared very thin”.
It ruled: “We considered that the pose and styling of her legs emphasised her slimness in a manner which made her appear unhealthily thin,”
The ASA concluded amid ongoing changes within the model industry in terms of body shapes and sizes it puts on display, that the ad was “irresponsible” and “must not” be shown again in its “current form”.
