'Over-sexualised' Femfresh shaving advert banned

An advert for bikini line shaving products has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which found it was likely to cause "serious or widespread offence".

The Femfresh advert featured women, wearing briefs and swimwear, dancing.

Shown on ITV and Channel 4 on-demand services earlier this year, it included close-up shots of the women's crotches.

The ASA received 17 complaints that the advert objectified women and portrayed them in an overly sexualised way.

Church & Dwight UK - the brand which owns Femfresh - did not believe the advert for the so-called "intimate shaving collection" was offensive or socially irresponsible.

It said it was aimed at a target audience of 18 to 34-year-old women and that close-ups were used to illustrate that the product could give consumers a smooth bikini line.

Neither Channel 4 or ITV received any complaints about the advert directly and both agreed with comments made by Church & Dwight that it did not objectify women.

But the ASA noted that the dance sequence was "highly sexualised", there were "few shots" of the women's faces and the high-cut swimsuits "were more exposing" than most.

"Even taking into account the nature of the product, we considered that it had been presented in an overly-sexualised way that objectified women," the ASA said.

"We concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious or widespread offence and therefore breached the code."

It ruled that the advert must not appear again in its current form.