Object

West Midlands transport executive, Centro has taken down posters from Birmingham bus stops after the feminist Object campaign group claimed that they were sex adverts.

The posters for small ads website Vivastreet.co.uk show three young women with the slogan: A little bit of Bella...A little bit of Layla...A little bit of Nicola ... The wording is an apparent reference to the 1999 chart hit Mambo Number 5 and the adverts ends: Get your own little bit .

For some reason, the local newspaper, the Birmingham Mail, felt it necessary to pixellate the girls faces when reporting the story.

The Object group has reported Vivastreet, which offers personal ads and an adult section on its site, to the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA).

Centro has now removed the adverts from all its sites and spokesman Mark Langford said:

Advertising on Centro bus shelters is contracted to a third party company who manage it on our behalf. As a condition of this, Centro stipulates material should meet national standards of taste and decency.

As soon as concerns about the nature of the website being promoted was brought to our attention we investigated and ordered the posters to be removed immediately from all Centro-owned sites.

We are meeting with the company to discuss the arrangements in place to manage future advertising material so that it meets the required standards.

A spokeswoman for the ASA said they had received more than 20 complaints about the adverts and said they would all be carefully assessed .

  Object's website has ceased to be.  twitter and facebook postings seem to have stopped on the 7th July, and Object as a company have failed to file both their accounts (a £150 fine) and annual returns.

strippingtheillusion.blogspot.co.uk asks:

Does Object even have a future? I am sure that when this is read someone will try to make object look active but over the last couple of years they have had less and less impact and failed to deliver anything other than a jolly to Brazil for Roz Hardie, certainly hope that wasn't the last of the funds. And if I donated to Object in the past I would be stopping any standing orders.

...Read the full article

Three ads in The Sun promoted a competition which invited readers to submit an image of their cleavage for the chance to win £1,000 and a photoshoot:

• a. The first ad appeared on a double-page spread with a number of images of celebrities in underwear or clothing that accentuated their breasts. Text at the top of the page stated JOIN IN THE SUN CLEAVAGE WEEK & YOU COULD WIN £1,000 and a headline in the middle stated BUST IN BRITAIN? . Each celebrity image featured their name, age and bra size. Under the heading HOW TO ENTER text stated Reckon you've got a cleavage that will put these fab figures in the shade? Then enter our great competition and you could land yourself £1,000 and a shoot with a Sun photographer. Just take a snap of yourself in an outfit that best shows off your bust. Then visit the website address below for details of how to submit your picture .

• b. The second ad appeared on a page headed GUESS THE CELEBRITY PAIRS which featured a number of images of celebrities' cleavages, cropped to exclude their faces, and captions underneath giving a clue as to their identity. Under the heading HOW TO ENTER text stated IS your cleavage up there with the bust of them? If so, enter our photo competition to win £1,000 and a shoot with a Sun photographer. Just take a snap of yourself in an outfit that best shows off your assets and upload it at the address shown below .

• c. The third ad appeared on a page headed WELL, THEY SAID PAGE 3 WAS HISTORY... which included images of paintings of historic women, such as Anne of Cleves, which emphasised their cleavages. Under the heading HOW TO ENTER text stated SEND your photo to www.thesun.co.uk/cleavage for a chance to win £1,000 and a photoshoot with a Sun photographer . Issue

The campaign group Object, who believed that the competition promoted the objectification of women, challenged whether the ads were offensive.

Assessment: Complaint not upheld

The ASA considered that the images and accompanying text in the ads were intrinsically linked to the terms of the competition, which was a sales promotion, and therefore were within our remit.

We noted the ads promoted a competition in which readers were invited to send photos of their cleavages to win a cash prize and a photoshoot, and that the images used were ones in which women's breasts were accentuated and cleavages visible. We also noted that some of the comments that accompanied the images were intended to be humorous and tongue-in-cheek. For example, the image of Kim Kardashian featured a comment stating Best known for her behind, but kleavage is kinda klassy too and the image of Jennifer Lopez featured a comment stating Lo-cut frock shows this star's assets to perfection .

We noted that the ads did not feature nudity and were not overtly sexual, and we considered the tone was light-hearted. We also noted that the ads were targeted exclusively to readers of The Sun newspaper and considered that they were in keeping with editorial material and images that regularly featured in the publication. Therefore, while we acknowledged that some consumers might find the concept of a competition inviting women to submit pictures of their cleavages distasteful or offensive, we considered that the ads were unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence to the audience targeted. We therefore concluded that the ads did not breach the Code.