‘Unwrap me’ lingerie ad found to objectify women in Ad Standards ruling
The advertising watchdog has found a lingerie advertisement by Honey Birdette to objectify and exploit women by implying the model could be undressed or unwrapped.
The ad, which features in a video and as a poster, pictures a woman laying on top of presents in red lingerie with the text “unwrap me”.
The Honey Birdette poster
A complaint said the ad was placed inappropriately on the store window “20m away from where they [children] greet Santa”.
“The slogans are sexual. The shop is located near a family store (Kmart) so young children are exposed to this vulgarity every time they pass,” another complaint posted to Ad Standards.
After reviewing the complaints and the ad, Ad Standards found the poster advertisement contained sexual appeal due to the woman’s pose and the style of lingerie.
Honey Birdette’s “unwrap me” poster was found to be exploitative and degrading towards women as the ad implied the model could be undressed or unwrapped.
“The Panel noted that children may not understand the sexual innuendo of the tagline, but considered that it would be immediately apparent to adults. The panel considered that there was no other obvious and reasonable interpretation of the accompanying text,” the board continued.
Honey Birdette didn’t respond to the ruling.
Abigail Dawson was Mumbrella's senior content journalist covering event content. She left Mumbrella to move into an agency role in 2020.
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See my comment on your recent article on Wicked Campers.
11 days in, etc.
It was meant to be satirical, but oh dear, Mumbrella is like a shit, unfunny Betoota Advocate.
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One could easily and sensibly argue that lingerie itself objectifies women.
Well how come so many women buy lingerie? And if so, can’t the product be advertised as such.
Goodness knows, next thing they will have ads for cars where people are driving them. OMG … they might even have ads for people eating breakfast cereal.
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