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Adidas ads displaying bare breasts are banned after complaints

Sports bra advertisements from Adidas AG (OTCQX:ADDYY)  featuring bare breasts have been banned in the UK as they cause widespread offence. A tweet in February showed the Adidas advert which displayed breasts of 20 women with varying skin colours, shapes, and sizes. In the ad, Adidas said, ‘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.’ The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 24 complaints, including that the ads’ use of nudity was “gratuitous, objectified women by sexualising them and reducing them to body parts”, and were potentially “harmful and offensive”. Some posters were also challenged as to whether they should have been displayed where children could see them. Some users reported the post to Twitter, but it was not found to violate its terms of service. 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.” The ASA further said the image was unsuitable “for use in untargeted media, particularly where it could be seen by children” and concluded the posters were inappropriately targeted. The regulator further said since Adidas’ Twitter feed typically promotes their sportswear for women and explicit nudity was not consistent with their usual content, it said since the tweet “featured explicit nudity” it was likely to cause widespread offence in that media. “We therefore concluded that the ads breached the [advertising] code.”