ASA bans Yves Saint Laurent ‘underweight’ model ad

The photograph (featured above) promoting the brand featured in the world’s biggest-selling fashion magazine, Elle, writes Channel 4 News reporter Nelufar Hedayat. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld the complaint that the ad was “irresponsible” but no action was taken against the magazine for featuring it. YSL did object to the ASA’s findings but chose to make no further comment.

This isn’t the first time that the ASA has cautioned Yves Saint Laurent for its provocative ads. In 2011 it banned a TV commercial for its perfume Belle D’Opium that was seen to promote drug use. The ad saw a women tap her inner arm and say “I am your addiction. I am Belle D’Opium.”

The ASA told Channel 4 News that although its role is not to “regulate models or thin people who might appear in ads”, this advert did breach the rules. Pointing out the lighting and styling, the ASA said that it was the techniques used by YSL that contributed to the advert being censored.

Wafer-thin models

There’s no shortage of wafer-thin models appearing on catwalks and ad campaigns within the fashion industry, which is said to perpetuate a very narrow ideal of the female body. Researchers have for decades made links between the images fashion companies create to sell their clothes and mental and eating disorders.

In April, the French government was so concerned with the prevalence of anorexic models on the catwalks of Paris, that MPs voted to ban excessively thin models, threatening to fine and even imprison agents and fashion houses that continue to use them.

Dr Melissa Atkinson from the Centre for Appearance Research says that the advertisers know exactly what they’re doing. “The ad says that skinny is sexy,” she says. “We know that simply viewing these kind of images can cause people to feel dissatisfied with their appearance and that can lead to all sort of unhealthy behaviours.”

‘Harmful’ lingerie advert

It’s not just luxury fashion brands that use very underweight models. In December 2014 Urban Outfitters was singled out by the ASA for a “harmful” advert promoting lingerie with the model having an unrealistic gap between her thighs.

In 2011 it banned another advert by Drop Dead Clothing, noting that its target market was young people and that the pictures of the model with prominent hip, rib, collar and thigh bones could be seen as aspirational for the teenagers that were the ad’s target.

“We haven’t come far enough,” says Dr Atkinson, “particularly the big fashion houses who promote an unrealistic, thin ideal in a lot of their images.”

Critics warn that the ASA could do more to target brands and advertisers that break the rules and continue to promote unhealthy bodies but that those who make the ads can do far more too.

The Advertising Standards Authority says its work is ongoing and that it will continue to monitor magazines and websites, particularly those aimed at young people and will not hesitate to take action against problem ads.