Teazers gets to keep billboards

2006-05-19 13:09

Johannesburg - Most billboards for the strip club Teazers displayed in the Johannesburg area are not offensive, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled on Friday.

The only advert it took exception to was one with a woman's torso, showing her hands in her pants near the pubic area saying "Itching for action".

The ASA's advertising standards committee dismissed the majority of the complaints that the billboards were offensive and sexist.

However, the "Itching for action" advert was found to be too explicit for a public board, and Teazers was ordered to withdraw it.

Complaints

The ASA received three separate complaints that the billboards were offensive, objectified or stereotyped women, were harmful to children, posed a potential safety risk, and were overtly sexual and demeaning to women.

The billboards under consideration included one with a picture of a guava, one with the picture of a kitten, with the words "Ours are playful", and one featuring an oyster allegedly resembling a woman's genitals.

Another billboard showed a pole dancer with the words "Always in pole position", and there were various billboards with women's torsos, stating "Not your average lounge!", "Girls that stop traffic!" and "At Teazers our Girls don't Lounge Around".

Sexually explicit

The complainants said the billboards were sexually explicit and likely to offend numerous groups including, Christians, Muslims, people opposed to the objectification of women, women from a wide range of cultures and mothers with children.

They said the "likely audience" of the advertisement would definitely include children as they were positioned on one of Johannesburg's busiest main roads.

The complainants said it should be noted that South Africa was plagued by widespread rape, sexual abuse and exploitation of women and children.

The adverts were also likely to distract drivers, which may cause accidents.

Perception of women as sex objects

The Commission of Gender Equality was requested to provide its opinion on the adverts.

It said all the billboards appeared where it was reasonably foreseeable that motorists and a wide section of the general public would involuntarily be exposed to them.

The commission said the imagery on the billboards were product-relevant, but it was of the view the advertising perpetuated a negative stereotypical gender role and perception of women as anonymous sex objects for male pleasure.

Teazers defends itself

In defence of the adverts, Teazers said it had the right to commercial speech and the billboards should be viewed in the context of similar images in magazines, on TV, and other media.

The adverts should also be viewed in the context of advertisements such as the FCUK cosmetics where the brand FCUK could be interpreted as what may be considered a vulgar word.

- SAPA