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Graphic burger buns ad banned for degrading women

A “degrading” ad for Bondi burger shop Goodtime Burgers featuring a patty sandwiched between a woman’s buttocks with the strapline “The freshest fun between the buns” has been banned by the Advertising Standards Board.

good time burgers

The ad appeared in December’s issue of Bondi community magazine The Beast to promote the opening of a new Bondi Junction store, with the owner saying staff at the publication approved the ad before it ran.

One complainant wrote “the woman’s body and private parts are objectified as something for people (probably men) to consume”, but the firm defended itself saying the intention was not to objectify women, but to be a “play on words” over the word buns.

The company also claimed the ad appeared in a “private” forum with the magazine aimed at people on Sydney’s Eastern beaches who are “in close relation to a casual environment which is associated with the beach and summer”.

It argued there would not have been a complaint if the image used had been a man’s rear end instead, admitting “the use of a woman’s butt as a burger bun appears to be questionable” according to the Ad Standards Code.

In its determination the board said: “The Board considered that, although the advertiser intended the image to be a humorous depiction, the close up image of the woman’s bottom and the portrayal of her bottom as a burger likened the woman to a piece of meat or object for consumption and objectified women. The Board also considered that this depiction of a woman as a burger is exploitative of women and degrading.”

It ordered the ad to be pulled from any further publication, with the business saying it would not use the image again.

Alex Hayes

 

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