Scrap yard fails in ad watchdog case after claiming complaint was ‘discrimination against blonde beautiful women’
A scrap metal yard in Sydney has failed to stop its “exploitative and degrading” bilboard being banned after arguing a complaint against it was “discrimination against blonde beautiful women”.
The billboard for St George Scrap Metal featured an image of a woman in a bikini kneeling on a beach, with text reading “St George Metal Recovery. They are definitely not the largest. But I wouldn’t sell my stuff to anyone else”.
A complaint to the Advertising Standards Board (ASB) said: “I am offended by this advertisement because it is sexist to include a scantily-clad woman on a billboard advertising a service which has no relation whatsoever to the image used.”
Claiming the ad was “heavily photoshopped” the complainant added of the tagline: “What in the world does that have to do with scrap metal??? It is sexist, predatory and offensive.”
Defending the ad, the scrap metal yard said the complaint itself was “discrimination against blonde beautiful women in general as the commentator suggests that she is a sexual object”.
St George Scrap Metal continued: “In regards to the comment of being heavily photo shopped, we also believe this to be a discriminating comment aimed at any beautiful woman who has ever had a half decent photo taken of them.
“In regards to the model in the billboard wearing a bikini, the scrap yard is less than 1 km from the beach where everyday women walk around in bikini’s. In Australia it is a very common sight to see beautiful blonde women in a bikini.”
In explaining the slogan on the billboard, they said it meant their “not the largest scrap yard” and that the “lady on the advert wouldn’t sell her scrap (stuff) to anyone else”.
“Our business depends on people bringing their scrap metal to our location. We’re a small, local and family-run business that prides itself on understanding that customer service and giving the customer a personal touch rather than treating them as a number, as you would be treated in a larger-sized scrap yard that tends not to take the smaller stuff (scrap). ”
They argued the billboard has “had a major impact” on their business “in terms of new customers” and they dispute “that the advert is sexist, predatory and offensive”.
In their final defence, the scrap yard quoted a customer they say was attracted to the business by the billboard in question.
They said the customer said: “I have seen this billboard and as a young blonde haired girl myself I don’t find this billboard sexist, predatory or offensive.”
In its ruling, the board noted that while some members of the community would prefer that women were not used to promote products in this manner, that in this instance “a depiction of a woman in a bikini is not of itself a depiction which discriminates against or vilifies women”.
It also noted that “there is no relationship in this advertisement between a woman in a bikini and the product or service being advertised” and while the text is relevant to the company, “a likely interpretation viewers would make of this billboard is that the test is a reference to the woman’s bust size not being particularly large also that the woman sells herself”.
The Board ruled “that the text, accompanying the image of a woman posing in a bikini which has no relevance to the product, amounts to a depiction that makes use of the woman’s sexual appeal in a manner that is both exploitative of and degrading to women”. The complaint was upheld.
Miranda Ward
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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I cannot stand discrimination against blind beautiful woman.
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I meant blond. And why are there no pictures of the offending billboard?
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Hey, Another Agency. You corrected your first comment in your second comment but still got “blonde” wrong. Are you getting much work?
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I’ll do the spelling corrections around here, thank you.
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I’ll have a pint all the same please!
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Poor me, then. I don’t drink.
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Thats our billboard and in no way did we want to offend anyone.
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Adrian – but you did and it’s pretty obvious a bikini clad girl has nothing to do with scrap metal – so why did you choose to advertise in this way?
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Seems every ad campaign has its knockers – this one included.
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