An ad from UK fashion brand Next has been banned since the model’s pose, styling, and camera angle made it appear to be she was “unhealthily thin.”
In its review, initiated by a single grievance last September, the UK Promoting Standards Authority (ASA) compared the controversial image to other photos of the identical model from the product listing.
It found that she didn’t appear unhealthily thin in those and so the now-banned image was “irresponsible” as the main target was on the model’s slim legs.
In response, Next has disagreed with the ASA’s ruling, arguing that while the model is slim, she has a “healthy and toned physique”.
The photo shows the model sitting on a wood block with one leg bent and the opposite straight while wearing a pair of $55 denim leggings.
The retailer said the 5-foot-7 woman’s pose was specifically chosen to display the fit of the leggings on each straight and bent legs, based on BBC.
It also claimed that the image, which was shot nearly two years ago, was created with “a powerful sense of responsibility”.
A spokesperson stated that a stylist and product image manager met the model in person and expressed no concerns about her health.
The ASA acknowledged that the model’s face “didn’t look like gaunt and her arms, while slim, didn’t display any protruding bones”.
Nonetheless, since the photographic decisions within the ad strongly emphasized the slimness of the model’s legs, it “considered that the ad appeared that the model was unhealthily thin”.
The retailer, which sells women’s, men’s and kids’s fashion, maintained that it had not used any retouching to change the model’s appearance.
Nonetheless, it did admit to altering the looks of the leggings by bringing them down further on the model’s ankles on each legs.
This was not found to have altered the model’s natural proportions.
Consequently of the ruling, Next isn’t any longer allowed to display the ad in its current form and has received a warning that its future ads have to be “prepared responsibly” and “not portray models as being unhealthily thin”.
The ruling comes after there was an increased deal with the consequences of unrealistic promoting within the last decade.
The “body positivity” movement, which began around 2010, goals to advertise a more diverse range of bodies in advertisements.
A fashion journalist told BBC that the movement is now “under threat” since the wider industry is veering back towards a “very thing model look”.
