ASA Adjudication on Filth UK

Ad

A flyer, distributed in Leeds city centre for a night club, featured a collage of images including naked women and a sex toy. It was headlined “Filth THE SLUT PARTY SAT OCTOBER 10TH @ THE MINT CLUB, LEEDS”. The reverse included text that stated “£8 ENTRY TO THE FIRST 50 SLUTS”.

Issue

1. Four complainants, three of whom believed that it degraded and demeaned women objected that the ad was offensive.  

2. Two complainants felt that the ad was irresponsible, because it could be seen by children.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

The Mint Club said they operated the venue which had been hired to the promotional company, Filth UK, for the event. They said the flyer in question was for a regular event called Filth, which had an individual theme for each monthly event, the flyers theme was a "Slut Party". They maintained that they had received no complaints and pointed out that the event was a house music dance night with a party atmosphere where over half of customers were female, many wearing fancy dress.

The Mint Club maintained that the flyers were distributed very carefully and were strictly regulated by Leeds City Council in that respect. They said the flyers were only given out to potential customers and maintained that distribution staff were instructed carefully in what they had to do. The Mint Club did not accept that children would have seen them.

Assessment

1. & 2. Upheld

The ASA noted the ad featured imagery of female nudity in a collage which centred on an image of a sex toy. Although the leaflet was intended to be in keeping with the nature of the event, we considered that the imagery, in conjunction with the title of the event, The Slut Party, and text that stated £8 ENTRY TO THE FIRST 50 SLUTS", was likely to cause serious offence to those who believed it was sexually explicit and degrading to women.  We also noted several of the complainants had seen the leaflets in Leeds city centre, some of which appeared to have been discarded and were visible to people who had not been specifically selected as potential customers by the distribution staff.  Consequently, we considered that there was a reasonable possibility that such material could be seen by the general public, including children. We considered that such material was unsuitable to be viewed by children and concluded that the ad was irresponsible and was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.2 (Responsible advertising) and 5.1 (Decency).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)