Provocative advertising
Adidas wants to advertise sports bras with bare breasts – and falls flat on the nose
In the UK, Adidas used provocation to promote a sports bra
© Jacob Ammentorp Lund / Getty Images
Huge billboards full of bare breasts – this is how the sporting goods manufacturer wanted to advertise its new sports bras. However, the British advertising regulator did not like that at all.
Maybe it was well intentioned. Maybe it was deliberate provocation. Either way, Adidas can’t call its latest advertising campaign a success in Great Britain. The group wanted to promote its new line of sports bras. And because they supposedly adapt to any type of breast in terms of shape or size, Adidas thought it would be great to use different breasts for advertising. However, this was by no means met with enthusiasm by all Britons.
In fact, the advertising posters that Adidas created simply show photos of lots of breasts. Big, small, even, uneven, soft, plump – along with the slogan: “The reasons we didn’t just make one type of sports bra”. The message gets across, the saying is quite clever. But you could have guessed that you can’t just put up gigantic posters with pictures of bare breasts in the streets. It didn’t take long for media insiders to complain, as did parents who were unenthused that their children were suddenly looking at boobs on their way to school.
Opinion on the campaign is divided on the internet
Adidas also advertised with the provocative photos on social networks such as Twitter or Instagram, albeit partly because of the strict rules enforced by the American parent companies, which meant that the nipples had to be pixelated. And there was criticism there too. “Are you kidding me with this post?” Someone writes. “Do you know how many kids can see that? I’ll never buy anything from you again.”
Elsewhere, a comment reads: “This is disgusting and distasteful!” But supporters of the campaign also spoke out: “Please keep pushing the boundaries, show everyone that breasts are just breasts. They don’t become sexual objects just because men say so. They are there to feed babies and not to make babies.”
Adidas explains itself as follows: “We put together this gallery to show how diverse breasts can be. We show a wide variety of shapes and sizes to make it clear why the right fit is so important.” They also want to “celebrate bodies in all their beauty and proudly show how different we all are”.
The advertising supervisor intervened
Despite all good reasons, the British advertising regulator ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) quickly put an end to at least the poster campaign. The motif would degrade women, it is said, “it sexualizes them and reduces them to body parts”. In addition, it is not possible for children to be able to see the posters without restrictions. The campaign was banned. But it can still be seen online – and will continue to be eagerly discussed.
Sources: Twitter, Instagram, “The Guardians”