ASA Adjudication on Cocktails Ltd

Ad

A poster, for an adult store, showed a woman in a PVC mini dress, stockings and suspenders with devil's horns on her head and a pointed tail. The headline stated "SEXy Shopping at Europe's Largest SEXY SUPERSTORES". The first word of the headline was displayed in very large type.

Issue

The complainants objected that the poster was offensive and inappropriate for display in public. Some objected that it was positioned very close to a primary school and a church.   

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Cocktails Ltd (Cocktails) said they ran a chain of large, licensed sex shops called Pulse and Cocktails, Sexy Superstores. They said they had been advertising via radio, press and billboards since they started the business in 1997. They said they had used the sexy shopping theme in both press and billboard ads for several years and many of those ads contained an image of a woman in a fancy dress outfit. They said examples included a bunny girl, Miss Santa, a maid, a cow girl, and a sexy devil. They argued that none of the outfits was skimpy and they could all be purchased from non-adult high-street retailers. They argued that none of those posters had attracted complaints.

Cocktails said CAP had pre-cleared a copy of a national press ad that featured a woman in a devil outfit. They maintained that neither they nor the newspaper had ever received complaints about the press ads.

They believed none of their ads was offensive and the complaints were due to personal moral objections to the nature of their business and not to the ads. They said they had previously been informed by the billboard owners that a complainant was offended by the devil image because of its close proximity to a church. Although Cocktails considered the image tame with no satanic implications they had offered, as a goodwill gesture, to replace the devil poster with one that showed a model dressed in a different costume. The complainant had, however, rebuffed the offer and had said any poster advertising a sex shop at that location was unacceptable.  

Cocktails said they had used the slogan "Sexy Shopping at Europe's Largest Sexy Superstores" both on their premises and in advertising without complaints. They maintained that any suggestion that their ads were unsuitable for display in the vicinity of a church or school was unfair and illogical, because many of their stores could be seen by children passing in cars or on foot.  They pointed out that many sex shops advertised on buses and taxis that passed schools and churches and that had children as passengers. Cocktails said none of their ads described products for sale or showed images of products of a sexual nature. They argued that the word "sexy" was used by the media on a daily basis and that it would be hard to imagine why a child would be affected by reading it. They pointed out that the poster was not visible from the school and was situated on a busy roundabout.     

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted Cocktails' comment that CAP had seen a press ad produced by Cocktails and had advised that it was unlikely to breach the CAP Code. We understood, however, that CAP Copy Advice team had seen only the text of the ad and not the image of the model in the devil outfit. We also noted, following an earlier complaint, the ASA had considered that another poster for Cocktails that featured a model in a bunny girl outfit was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.

We noted the poster was displayed at a busy roundabout and was near a primary school and a church. We considered that, although some would find the woman in a devil outfit and the headline "SEXy shopping" distasteful, the content of the ad was relevant to the advertised product and was not explicit. We concluded that the poster was not inappropriate for display on a poster and was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.  

We investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 2.2 (Responsible advertising) and 5.1 (Decency) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action required.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)