A sexy pout, bare breasts, nude buttocks — those are the signature marks of models in American Apparel advertisements meant to sell hoodies, underwear, and thigh-high socks. Provocative to some and sleazy to others, a series of eight American Apparel ads from last year are under fire from the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority for being exploitative and pornographic.
“We considered that in the particular context of images which featured nudity and sexually provocative poses, there was a voyeuristic and ‘amateurish’ quality to the images which served to heighten the impression that the ads were exploitative of women and inappropriately sexualized young women,” said the ASA, according to the Daily Telegraph.
American Apparel fought back, telling the ASA that it was “important to judge what was and was not offensive by reference to the current times and the views of the majority of decent and reasonable people, not a small and puritanically-minded minority.”
The company defended its choice to use images of real people in their ads, rather than professional models, asserting that consumers can relate to these types of photographs and that they are similar to pictures shared between friends on social networks. It said that the women in the ads were “happy, relaxed, and confident in expression and pose,” and the photos were not exploitative or negative.
The ASA ruled that seven out of the eight advertisements must not run again, arguing that they were meant to show off the nude body parts rather than the undergarments they were meant to sell. “We told American Apparel not to use similar images which were exploitative of women or that inappropriately sexualized young women in future,” said the ASA.
The ads in question don’t seem to have been too effective in the past. With the company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy over the past few years, maybe it’s simply time for American Apparel to find a new marketing strategy.