Hey there, England, it's been a while since you got your knickers in a twist over some racy fashion ads. Welcome back!
British retailer Marks & Spencer was hit with complaints over a new ad campaign featuring Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in lingerie. The Telegraph reports that three digital outdoor advertisements, all promoting Rosie's own Rosie For Autograph line for Marks & Spencer, were described as "overtly sexual, explicit, degrading to women and reinforced sexual stereotypes of women" in seven complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the U.K.'s advertising watchdog.
But the ASA has spared the adverts (and British men's chance of seeing Rosie's fine figure on their way to work). In a new report, the ASA provided this levelheaded assessment:
We also considered that it was acceptable for advertisers of lingerie to show their products modelled in ads, provided they did so responsibly. We also considered that, because the ads were for lingerie, consumers were less likely to regard the partial nudity shown as gratuitous.
Sounds fair to us. Interesting, the ASA also acknowledged Marks & Spencer's claim that the Rosie For Autograph line was designed by a woman (ostensibly, Rosie herself) for women, "as opposed to being designed for the titillation of men."
And thus another sexy ad campaign lives to see another day in England. Check out still versions of the ads below -- do you think they are overly explicit or "degrading to women"?
PHOTOS:
See some ads that suffered an unluckier fate...