Adidas have seen their recent UK advert banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned for “explicit nudity”. 

Adidas promoted two poster advertisements and one tweet in February to promote their sports bra. One poster featured a gallery of bare breasts covering a range of skin colours, shapes and sizes. The second poster also contained similar imagery, however the nipples were obscured by pixels. The tweet promoted the same image and message that “all women’s breasts in all shapes and sizes deserve support and comfort.” Then going on to promote their new range of sports bras and a link to the website. 

The advert was not received well by many. There were articles and tweets from users to suggest whether the household brand were guilty of sexism. 

After receiving 24 complaints about the advert, the ASA moved swiftly to ban the adverts that were seen as highly controversial. The ASA say that Adidas’ adverts were objectifying for women. They also say the ad reduced women to body parts and that the nudity was gratuitous.

In response to complaints, Adidas say they did not intend to objectify with this campaign and that the images were published with full consent from the women shown. 

Brands are taking the extra step to create unique marketing campaigns that appeal directly to their consumers, however, in wake of this ban to a major brand, this will keep respective brands on high alert in what will and will not be received well by the audience and authorising bodies.