PrettyLittleThing ad banned for portraying minor in ‘sexualised’ manner
The ad campaign in question featured Travis Barker’s daughter Alabama Barker, who was 16 at the time
The ASA has banned a PrettyLittleThing (PLT) advert for portraying someone under 18 in a ‘sexualised’ manner.
The ad campaign in question featured Travis Barker’s daughter Alabama Barker, who was 16 at the time. The ASA ruled the retailer used “socially irresponsible” images of the model.
In response to the complaint, PLT said that they “did not intend to sexualise” Ms Barker and disagreed that she was portrayed in a sexual manner. It added that all creative was approved by Ms Barker and her team, and that she was posed in a similar style to images that could be seen on her own Instagram account.
However, a report from the watchdog said: “We concluded that the images objectified the woman. They were therefore irresponsible and likely to cause serious offence.
“The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Prettylittlething.com Ltd to ensure that future ads were prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society and that they did not cause serious or widespread offence by objectifying women.”
In response, PLT said: “While they did not believe the image objectified women they appreciated the importance of the issue raised and therefore had agreed to remove the images from their website.”