ASA upholds complaints against Oh Lola! advert
Readers objected to model’s ‘sexualised manner’
The ASA has upheld complaints from readers about a magazine advertisement showing the 17 year old model, Dakota Fanning, advertising a bottle of perfume in a ‘sexualised manner’.
The advert was for Marc Jacobs’ Oh Lola! fragrance and featured Fanning sitting on the floor with part of her thigh visible, leaning backwards with an oversized bottle of the perfume in her lap. The bottle was shaped like a vase holding a flower in bloom and because of this four readers complained to the ASA that the image was ‘offensive and irresponsible’ as it portrayed the young model in a sexualised manner.
Parent company Coty responded to the complaints by saying that it had not received any complaints itself and that while it believed the giant perfume bottle was ‘provoking it was not indecent’. It also added that the advert appeared in magazines with a readership of those over the age of 25 – the target group for the perfume.
Nevertheless, the ASA has upheld the complaints and ruled that the advert must not be shown again in its current form.
