Adidas have had a sports bra advert pulled for being likely to cause widespread offence.
The ad showed the breasts of 20 women in a grid and was supposed to highlight that their new sports bras have multiple options for different body shapes and sizes.
The ad's caption read “We believe women’s breasts in all shapes and sizes deserve support and comfort. Which is why our new sports bra range contains 43 styles, so everyone can find the right fit for them.”
The picture, which was posted on twitter in February has received 24 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and has been pulled for objectifying women and “reducing them to body parts”.
Twitter also said that the post had been reported by some users but was not found to be in breach of its terms of service.
Adidas UK defended the ad, stating that it was made to “reflect and celebrate different shapes and sizes, illustrate diversity and demonstrate why tailored support bras were important”.
They added that the models faces were cropped out to protect their identity, and that they were in support of the campaign.
Upon receiving complaints the ASA has said “Although we did not consider that the way the women were portrayed was sexually explicit or objectified them, we considered that the depiction of naked breasts was likely to be seen as explicit nudity.
“As the ads contained explicit nudity, we considered that they required careful targeting to avoid causing offence to those who viewed them.”
They added “We noted the content typically featured on the Adidas Twitter feed promoted their sportswear for women and considered explicit nudity was not in keeping with their usual content.
“Because (the tweet) featured explicit nudity, we concluded it was likely to cause widespread offence in that media.
“We therefore concluded that the ads breached the Code.”
Adidas still support their ad, saying that "we stand proudly behind [it], and it is exhibited on adidas.com.”
they also add that "the ASA ruling was related to this creative being used in an untargeted fashion on email / banner ads /etc" rather than the ad itself.
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