A complaint against a BurgerFuel advertisement on in-store serviette tins has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The ad featured a caricature of two women back to back wearing only knee-high fishnet tights, one holding a cleaver and one holding a knife. The headline said, “Death before bad burgers”.

Complainants said the advertisement was offensive, objectified women and was not appropriate for a family restaurant.

BurgerFuel claimed the level of nudity shown was similar to that seen in everyday society, did not use sexual appeal to sell an unrelated product and was not degrading to women.

The majority of the ASA’s complaints board said the advertisement was sexually explicit, and likely to cause offence. It said the advertisement was in a burger restaurant where it was exposed to a wide audience, including children and used sexualised imagery to sell an unrelated product.

Degrading

The ASA has also upheld a complaint against an ad that was described as “belittling to women”.  

The advertisement for Wills Contracting featured two men discussing one wife’s breasts in relation to the commercial lifting services offered by the company. The wife catches the men talking about her and suggests that they will need the lifting equipment to get them out of their dilemma.  

One complaint said the ad was degrading and belittling to women and was also offended by the stereotype of a nagging wife; the other said the advertisement was derogatory, sexist and demeaning.  

The ASA’s complaints board unanimously felt the advertisement had not been prepared with a due sense of social responsibility.