A British fashion brand has had an advert banned by the advertising watchdog for "glamorising smoking".
Jaded London, a label whose clothes have been worn by Beyonce and Taylor Swift, featured an image of a woman posing with a cigarette in a campaign earlier this year.
The picture, which was used to promote a range of summerwear, showed a woman in a pink backless minidress holding what appeared to be a lit cigarette in front of a Vespa-style scooter.
According to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the advert breached its rules on promotional material and cannot run again in its current form.
The watchdog said the advert was "heavily stylised and presented the model in a fashionable and attractive manner", which made smoking seem appealing.
The ASA's rules require adverts to show a “sense of responsibility to consumers and to society”, and that smoking should not be presented in an appealing way, condoned or encouraged.
They added that the woman was wearing "fashionable clothing and accessories standing in front of a scooter next to a body of water, which the ASA considered evoked an aspirational holiday lifestyle".
The visible ash at the tip of the cigarette suggested it was lit, they said.
Jaded London was founded by siblings Jade Camber and Grant Goulden in 2013.
The brand has 1.5 million followers on Instagram, and became popular through using social media and by sending clothes to celebrities including Rita Ora, Kylie Jenner and Hailey Bieber.
Jaded London argued it was "not clear" the model was holding a cigarette because it was slimmer than a normal one, and "did not appear to be lit".
They also said that the cigarette was not the "focus of the ad" - but has agreed to not use pictures of models smoking in future.
The company’s Instagram feed contains several other images of people smoking while wearing its clothes, including one in which the model appears to take a drag, and another where she appears to hold it between her lips.
A spokesperson for the ASA said that it was unable to comment on whether the other posts broke the rules without them going through its formal process.
The Standard has approached Jaded London for comment.
