UK Bans Adidas Sports Bra Ads Because They Feature Exposed Breasts

May 11, 2022

The UK has banned a series of Adidas sports bra ads because they feature bare breasts. Now if you’ve seen the ads, which show a photo array of exposed breasts, you know Adidas was going for a body positivity thing that also shows the diversity in shapes and sizes of women’s breasts. In 2022, this shouldn’t be a controversial thing, really, but the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority disagrees.

From Business Insider:

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To say that these ads “objectified women by sexualizing them and reducing them to body parts” seems to almost intentionally miss the point. It’s an ad series for bras, so of course women’s breasts are relevant. The ads aren’t sexualized at all, so if you think the women whose faces aren’t even seen in the photos are being objectified, it must be because you think the female breast is inherently sexual regardless of the context in t]which they’re exposed—and that’s your problem. 

But apparently, the idea of women being objectified isn’t the ASA’s problem. Instead, it just doesn’t seem to understand what the point is of showing breasts—in advertisements for bras.

“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,” the ASA said Wednesday. “We noted the breasts were the main focus in the ads, and there was less emphasis on the bras themselves, which were only referred to in the accompanying text.”

I suppose the ASA would also have an issue if Adidas started featuring bare feet in its sneaker ads. Right, that would be dumb.

Mostly, the ASA just seems to want prude-ish people to stop complaining.

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