"It is inappropriate even at the best of times, but certainly more so now.” - what prompted this reaction?
A poster in the window of a Mars Leather store featuring a naked toddler just wearing boots has been forced to cover up by the Ad Standards Bureau (ASB).
The poster features a group of men dressed in denim and leather and a naked toddler wearing boots and sunnies.
The child's groin is covered by the bar of a wooden fence the group is stood behind.
Members of the public still took offensive to the posters with some complaints to the ASB including:
“I have a young son myself and looking at the poster made me cringe.”
“The nude boy was very obvious, as he is in front of all black leather clad men. Given the current media attention on sex offence cases involving young boys, it is inappropriate even at the best of times, but certainly more so now.”
The advertiser defended the campaign in a statement to the ASB.
“The poster is a Thomas Cook ad for Johnny reb boots which we have had on display for over 30 years give or take.
“In that time we have had only one complaint who on the first occasion they approached us was because they didn’t like one person in the poster because they believed they knew the person.
“The brother of the child who is completely grown up was happy to see the poster was still around.”
However the ASB found that the advertisement did not treat sex, sexuality and nudity with sensitivity to the relevant audience therefore it upheld the complaint and the poster has now been modified.
This story first appeared on sister site adnews.com.au