Playboy female puppet ad in family TV magazine banned

by Sam Matthews,, Brand Republic 28-Jul-04, 08:30

LONDON – A magazine ad for Playboy TV, showing a woman on her hands and knees with strings attached to her hands, has been cleared by the advertising watchdog of being sexually explicit but pulled up for causing serious offence in a family publication.

The ad in Sky's TV magazine showed a woman on her hands and knees with puppet strings attached to her hands and feet, with the headline, "You pull the strings". A man's hand was shown above the woman holding the strings.

The text said: "Climax3 is the new experience in adult television... Switch between 3 channels at any time...". The strapline stated: "Climax3. Take control tonight."

The Advertising Standards Authority considered the ad was not sexually explicit nor unduly provocative because the woman was clothed.

However, it did note that because the ad was in Sky TV magazine, which contains details of TV programmes of interest to the entire family, it was likely to cause widespread offence and be seen to demean women.

The advertiser said that the puppet image was to show that the consumer was in control and had a choice between Climax3's three channels and that the ad did not cause widespread offence because it was sent to 7.5m magazine subscribers and only received a handful of complaints.

The publisher said it had vetted the ad and decided it was acceptable for the magazine and had received only one complaint about it.

The ASA ruled that Playboy TV was not to repeat the approach in media that was not tightly targeted and advised it to consult the CAP Copy Advice team before advertising again.

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