Do You Find These Deodorant Ads Degrading To Women?

by Julia Rubin | 5:02 pm, November 27th, 2011

The British Advertising Standards Authority is at it again! They just banned a Lynx advertising campaign for being degrading to women.

Lynx (which is British Axe) is under fire for ads featuring pin-up model Lucy Pinder. This is what the ASA had to say about the ruling:

We considered that the various activities that Ms Pinder carried out were presented in a sexually provocative way, and that alongside the focus on Ms Pinder’s cleavage … were likely to be seen as gratuitous and to objectify women. We considered that was emphasised by the text ‘Can she make you lose control?’ … and the invitation to ‘Play with Lucy’, which we considered would also be seen as degrading to women. We therefore concluded that the ads were likely to cause serious and widespread offense. We therefore considered that the poster would be seen to make a link between purchasing the product and sex with women and in so doing would be seen to objectify women.’

Take a look at the ads and video below. Do you find them degrading, or is the ASA being too strict?

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[Daily Mail via HuffPost Style]

Advertising Standards Authority Deodorant

http://www.facebook.com/jespurp jessica elizalde

no no no its a beautiful woman in the kitchen. so what? plus some one needs to learn how to eat a popsicle. really? that is jsut dumb. but i love the big chest and small waist. what size do we say she is? and the swim suit HOT!
Pigeon Pigeon

There’s nothing remotely “offensive” or “degrading” about these ads – if there was Lucy would not have done them. As you can see from the complete set of videos at http://www.lucy-pinder.tv/videos/s_lynx (over 60 of them) and the photos at http://www.lucy-pinder.tv/gallery.php?p=1&r=lynx …. What genuinely is “degrading to women” is the suggestion that the sight of a female body is such a terrible thing that it needs to be banned. The ASA really needs to get a grip.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1603320065 Kirsten Zoe Hyer

I truly appreciate what the BASA is trying to do. In fact the ad IS offensive, and many women in acting or modeling careers are pushed into doing things they would not do otherwise, under “direction” and the need for money. While I have no problem with showing the female form in general, I do have an issue with it being used to sell something. We don’t need to over sexualize in order to sell products. And in fact, the over-sexualization of women causes more problems than you might think. I encourage everyone to see the film Missrepresentation as it provides good perspective on women in media.
Anonymous

But haven’t we always objectified, glamorized women, casual sex? Is this something new, or is just this time the explicit use of words beyond images is a bit too much to bear for some tastes? Furthermore why do advertisers insist on presenting women in such a vein? D0 they honestly believe that this is how women perceive themselves, how men perceive women or ultimately in the notion that anything that gets us or leads to more sex if it’s good for the goose is good for the gander?

Or to put in another way: What about if the same ad ran with a shirtless man with the above slogan- ‘the cleaner you are the dirtier you get.’ Would that have offended us? Probably not.

http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2011/11/are-these-ads-degrading-to-women/
http://msrobynlove21.blogspot.com/ RobynLove

umm, what does that Ad have to do with deodorant? Maybe I miss read something. I guess it’s degrading only because the Ad is focusing on sex not the actual product….in any matter who ever is making these commercials needs to either get laid or fired cause their mind is somewhere else…
http://profiles.google.com/dajewel1982 tiffany goff

i don’t see how the ad is offensive…and i have taken women’s studies in undergrad a couple years ago…those that say it is offensive need to loosen up and stop be such a prude.

Do You Find These Deodorant Ads Degrading To Women?

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