Australian-born lingerie brand Honey Birdette has been forced to remove an advert from a front store window that has been labelled “sexually suggestive” by an Ad Standards Community Panel.
The advert in question features two women wearing light blue lace and tulle lingerie with the word "Bella" along the bottom of the image.
A shopper issued a complaint to Ad Standards saying the advert exposed a substantial amount of one of the model’s genital regions.
Following a review, the Ad Standards panel found that the advertisement did contain a depiction of sexuality, as well as partial nudity
“In particular, the Panel noted that the style of underwear meant that there was a suggestion that some of the pubic mound of the woman on the left was visible, and that this was a higher level of nudity,” the case report showed.
The report added that the image appears in store windows, often in shopping centres, and the panel “considered that the relevant audience includes retail workers, people shopping in the Honey Birdette store and people who are not shopping at Honey Birdette but who are walking past the store, and that this last group would include children.”
It was further noted that the women were posed in an intimate and “sexually suggestive manner”, with one woman resting her hand on the other woman’s hip.
“The Panel noted that the style of the lingerie worn by the woman on the right included skin-coloured tulle fabric and considered that this gave the impression that some of her pubic mound was visible. The Panel considered that this in combination with the sexualised posing meant that this image was overtly sexual.
“The Panel considered that the overtly sexual image was not appropriate for the relevant broad audience which would likely include children.”
Two other complaints were made against two other different store window advertisements, with those being dismissed. Honey Birdette did not provide a response following an initial reach out by Ad Standards on each case.