UK's ASA bans YSL ad over model's weight

By

Cajsa Lykke Carlson

Published
Jun 3, 2015

ASA, the British Advertising Standards Agency, has ruled against French fashion house Yves Saint Laurent over an ad that featured a very skinny model.

The ad was featured in ELLE magazine and received a complaint from a reader who "believed the featured model appeared unhealthily thin" and challenged whether the ad was irresponsible.

The ASA concluded that "the model’s pose and the particular lighting effect in the ad drew particular focus to the model’s chest, where her rib cage was visible and appeared prominent, and to her legs, where her thighs and knees appeared a similar width, and which looked very thin."

Though YSL indicated that they did not agree with the complainant's view that the model was unhealthily thin, the company didn't provide a detailed response. ELLE stated it had no comment to the complaint.

The ASA has now ruled that the ad can't appear again in its current form, and told the advertisers "to ensure that the images in their ads were prepared responsibly."

French lawmakers voted earlier this year to ban ultra-thin models due to concerns about the promotion of "unhealthy" body image, in a move that drew condemnation from modelling agencies.

Spain banned models below a certain body mass index following the 2006 death from anorexia of Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston, while London, Milan and New York fashion weeks have tightened rules on child models.