Australian-born lingerie retailer Bras N Things has overcome a review by Ad Standards over the placement of advertising on a bus that happened to be used on a school route.
A complainant wrote to Ad Standards, claiming the “sexually inappropriate” advert was plastered across the side of a TransPerth school bus, and adding that this is not appropriate for children.
The bus advertisement in question featured a woman wearing pink lacy lingerie with a pair of sheer black stockings over the top. It included a tagline stating “This is where I change”.
A spokesperson for Bras N Things responded to the complaint, saying that no model is ever naked in any of its advertising.
“We wanted to firstly apologise for any impact this has caused,” they wrote. “It is never our intention at Bras N Things.
“We encourage women to be comfortable with whatever choices they make and what may be sexy lingerie for one woman will be different for another, that’s their choice.”
The spokesperson then confirmed it had spoken with its media partner – Transit OOH – over the advert in question. They said Transit bookings are placed on a variety of different bus routes across the country, reflective of the market priorities for the campaign.
“The audience for advertising on public transport assets is a representative proportion of the population, which is at least 80 per cent adults,” the Bras N Things spokesperson wrote. “We would never intentionally target school buses, or even routes that pass schools.
“Due to the nature of the public transport system, it is not possible to determine which vehicle will be assigned to a particular route on any given day, however the large majority of bus routes are for public transport and heavily adult skewed.
“These instances are very unlikely for the most part, but we will continue to look at how we can ensure we keep this in mind for any future advertising campaigns.”
The Ad Standards Community Panel conducted a review, considering whether the bus ad breached the AANA Children’s Advertising Code (the Children’s Code) or Section 2 of the AANA Code of Ethics (the Code).
In order for the provisions of the Children’s Code to apply, the ad must be found to target children under 15 years of age.
“The panel noted the advertiser’s response that the advertisements were placed on public busses, which could occasionally be used as school busses, and this use was outside the advertiser’s control. The panel considered that the audience of the advertisement on school busses may include a significant proportion of children, but the audience of the advertisement on busses generally would not.”
It was then found that the ad did not target children.
As for Section 2.2 of the Code of Ethics – which covers sexual appeal that is considered exploitative or degrading – the panel found that the bus ad did not breach this section.
The panel also considered whether the advertisement breached section 2.4 of the Code of Ethics, which states that advertising shall treat sex, sexuality and nudity with sensitivity to the relevant audience.
The panel considered that the woman’s genitals and full breasts were not visible, and the overall advertisement did not contain a high level of nudity,” the case report read.
“The panel considered that the woman was not in a sexualised pose and the wording of the advertisement was not sexual.
“The panel considered that the advertisement was not overtly sexual and did treat the issues of sex, sexuality and nudity with sensitivity to the relevant broad audience.”
Finding that the advertisement did not breach any other section of the Children’s Code or the Code of Ethics, the Ad Standards panel dismissed the complaints.