A SCOTS lingerie boutique has been rapped for a "sexually suggestive" poster which was adjudged to have "objectified women".

The Advertising Standards Authority has warned Silks not to run the poster in its current form saying that it was "likely to cause serious or widespread offence".

The regulator said the poster which featured the logo Tease the Season focused on the model's body, without showing her head. The model was "posed leaning over in a way that emphasised her chest", said the ASA.

The Herald:

The advert was adjudged to have breached an advertising standards code relating to marketing communications which should not contain anything that is "likely to cause serious or widespread offence".

The offending outdoor poster advert for Silks was seen in December, 2017 at Clarkston Toll in East Renfrewshire.  A similar flier was included on their website plugged their shops in Netherlee and Glasgow's west end.

The Herald:

The ASA said it was "concerned" that Silks did not respond to its inquiries about the advert and "apparent disregard for the code".

The ASA said: "The purpose of the ad was to advertise a collection of lingerie and therefore we considered it was reasonable to feature a woman in limited amounts of clothing.

"The ad did not show the model’s face, and focused only on her body which was posed leaning over in a way that emphasised her chest.

"The ASA considered that the model’s pose and the image, combined with the text 'Tease the season', was sexually suggestive. We considered that, by focusing entirely on the model’s body without showing her head, and in the context of a sexually suggestive pose and byline, the image invited viewers to view the woman’s body as a sexual object.

The Herald:

"For those reasons, we considered that the ad objectified women and we therefore considered that it was likely to cause serious or widespread offence."

The regulator concluded: "The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Silks not to use ads that objectified women and that were therefore likely to cause serious or widespread offence."

The ASA said it had reminded Silks of their responsibility to "respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in the future".

Silks were approached for comment but did not respond.