American Apparel Ad Banned In UK

Fashion retailer American Apparel is in hot water again for its racy advertising.

Despite installing new CEO Paula Schneider in December, replacing the controversial Dov Charney, it appears American Apparel is up to the same old tricks.

The national body in charge of regulating advertising in the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has ruled that an American Apparel ad is guilty of sexualising a minor and cannot be shown in its current form.

The offending image shows the back view of a model wearing a thong bodysuit, looking over her shoulder at the camera.

While American Apparel argued that the model is 20 and therefore not a minor, ASA deemed her “youthful appearance” combined with the sexual nature of her expression and pose “could be seen to sexualise a child. We therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible and was likely to cause serious offence.”

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In what may be a fit of wishful thinking, ASA requested that American Apparel refrain from publishing offensive images in the future.

“We told American Apparel to ensure future ads did not include images that inappropriately sexualised young women or were likely to cause serious offence.”

American Apparel has a reputation for controversial advertising, and a long rap sheet of run-ins with regulatory bodies ruling on its ads.

In September 2014 ASA banned two online images advertising ‘back to school’ fashion featuring a model wearing a pleated skirt bending forward to reveal her underwear.

"We considered the ads had the effect of inappropriately sexualising school-age girls and were therefore offensive and irresponsible," read the ruling.