"Watch your language" Retailer warned

Belinda Smart
MELBOURNE: Street and casual wear retail chain Global Rags has been hauled up by the Advertising Standards Board (ASB) for vilifying women in a recent radio advertisement.
Global Rags withdrew an ad making reference to "fake tits" and "balls" to push its promise of authentic, affordable brands last month after the ASB determined it had breached the Advertiser Code, following complaints over sexist and inappropriate language.
Announcing "Fake tits we like. . . fake jeans we don't . . nothing fake at Global Rags... well, some of the sales chicks may have 'fakeys', bless 'em!", the ad's voiceover went on to list well-known brand labels carried at Global Rags, adding that they were "all real, and all at really good prices".
"In fact we'll put our balls on the line and say that if we get beaten on price, we'll beat it by 10 per cent. Fake tits are nice, fake jeans aren't! Nothing fake about Global Rags. . .except for the odd sales chick...and she just makes shopping a hell of a lot easier!"
The complaints focused on the ad's repetitive reference to "fake tits" and its insinuation that consumers would be encouraged to shop at the store because female sales staff had synthetic breasts.
Global Rags, which has seven stores across Victoria, responded by arguing the language used in the advertisement was accepted by the intended target audience (18 to 39-year-olds) as being "consistent with contemporary community standards of decency".
"Regarding the denigration of employees, we did in fact discuss the content with our sales staff... [they] had no problem with the content, they saw it as rather irrelevant, and did not take it seriously."
In spite of this defence, the ASB concluded the tone of the advertisement was "aggressive, demeaning and denigrating to women", adding it did not contain any compensating affection or humour.
In addition the tone of the advertisement "crossed the line of what was acceptable", the board claimed.
Global Rags apologised that its advertisement had offended listeners, adding that it would take note of this in future advertising campaigns.