Cleavage car sales advert banned

A car advert has been banned for using a picture of a woman's cleavage accompanied by the tag line "nice headlamps".

The poster by UlsterTrader.com appeared in 20 locations in Northern Ireland, prompting 44 complaints from people who saw it. They said it objectified women and implied they could be bought like a car.

The company argued that the full slogan, which read "Nice headlamps. What do you look for in a car?", was intended to be tongue in cheek, and used no offensive language.

But the Advertising Standards Authority said: "We considered that the image of the woman's cleavage coupled with the strap line 'Nice headlamps. What do you look for in a car?' was likely to be seen to objectify and degrade women by linking attributes of a woman, her cleavage, to attributes of a car, the headlamps, in a way that would be seen to imply a woman, like a car, was to be selected for those attributes.

"We concluded that the poster had caused serious offence to some readers and was likely to cause widespread offence."

The poster breached guidelines on taste and decency and mustn't appear again, the ASA said.

Get a car insurance or home insurance quote now.