Artificial grass firm's 'degrading' advert banned

A company which supplies artificial grass has been ordered to take down a billboard poster after it was found to demean and objectify women.

The Great Grass advert in Failsworth, Greater Manchester, was deemed to be "degrading" and offensive by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The poster featured a woman wearing flesh-coloured underwear and holding a potted plant in front of her crotch, with a headline stating "No trimming needed!" followed by a "wink" emoji.

Great Grass, which was ordered to take down another advert two years ago, said only one person out of "hundreds of thousands" who had seen the latest billboard had complained.

The complainant said it objectified and sexualised women and was offensive, harmful and irresponsible.

Great Grass told the ASA its advertisement had been on display for several months, and that it had received 47 positive comments about it.

The ASA acknowledged many people would see the advert as a light-hearted reference to the low-maintenance properties of artificial grass.

But it said it had "considered that the cropped image of a woman in underwear accompanied by text that alluded to pubic hair had the effect of demeaning and objectifying women by using their genitalia to draw attention to an unrelated product.

"We considered that the emoji next to the text, which featured a winking face with its tongue out, added to the degrading and mocking tone."

The ASA ruled the ad was "irresponsible", "objectified women" and was "likely to cause serious and widespread offence".

It said the advert must not appear again.

Billboard site owners 75Media said it took the ASA’s concerns "very seriously" and would remove the advert.

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