Adidas advert showing bare breasts banned for being offensive and 'objectifying women'

11 May 2022, 17:03 | Updated: 11 May 2022, 17:06

Adverts for Adidas sports bras that showed women's bare breasts have been banned by the watchdog over fear of causing "widespread offence".

A tweet by the sportswear brand, posted in February, showed 20 women of various skin colours, shapes and sizes, without tops on.

Adidas stated at the time: "We believe women's breasts in all shapes and sizes deserve support and comfort. Which is why our new sports bra range contains 43 styles, so everyone can find the right fit for them."

Two posters showed similar cropped images of 62 and 64 women, and stated: "The reasons we didn't make just one new sports bra."

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it received 24 complaints following the advert.

Complainants said the the ads' use of nudity was gratuitous and objectified women by sexualising them and "reducing them to body parts".

Some also challenged whether the poster ads were appropriate for display where they could be seen by children.

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Adidas has defended its reasons behind the advert, explaining the images were intended to "reflect and celebrate different shapes and sizes".

The sportswear giant said the advert was developed to "illustrate diversity and demonstrate why tailored support bras were important".

All of the models shown had volunteered to be in the ad and were supportive of its aims, Adidas said.

The ASA said: "Although we did not consider that the way the women were portrayed was sexually explicit or objectified them, we considered that the depiction of naked breasts was likely to be seen as explicit nudity.

"As the ads contained explicit nudity, we considered that they required careful targeting to avoid causing offence to those who viewed them."

Referring to the two posters, the ASA said: "We considered that the image was not suitable for use in untargeted media, particularly where it could be seen by children. We concluded that (the posters) were inappropriately targeted, and were likely to cause widespread offence."

In relation to the tweet, the ASA said: "We noted the content typically featured on the Adidas Twitter feed promoted their sportswear for women and considered explicit nudity was not in keeping with their usual content.

"Because (the tweet) featured explicit nudity, we concluded it was likely to cause widespread offence in that media.

"We therefore concluded that the ads breached the Code."

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Twitter said the post was not found to be in breach of its terms of service.

Adidas said: "The gallery creative was designed to show just how diverse breasts are, featuring different shapes and sizes that highlight why tailored support is paramount.

"It is important to note that the ASA ruling was related to this creative being used in an untargeted fashion on email / banner ads /etc rather than the creative itself and the message, which we stand proudly behind, and it is exhibited on adidas.com."