London Evening Standard
Big underwear bust-up hits below the belt
(Loin King poster subhead)
Double standards?: The poster Brass Monkeys is forbidden to use
(Eva picture subhead)
No problem: Eva Herzigova in the Wonderbra ad which appeared on the hoardings
by Jane Flanagan and Ed Harris
A men's underwear company has been told it cannot show a man in his
underpants on an advertising hoarding, in a ruling which has prompted
accusations of double standards.
The firm, Brass Monkeys, was told to find a "smaller" male model by the
Committee of Advertising Practice, which evidently found no problem with
Eva Herzigova's ample cleavage being used to promote the Wonderbra in
another high stree campaign with the solgan, "Hello boys."
The proposed slogans - "The Loin King" and "Full Metal Packet" - were also
found to be too much risqué for street side sites by the committee, an
advisory arm of the Advertising Standards Authority.
Brass Monkeys' founder Kevin Higgs said: "It's double standards. If it was
female underwear it wouldn't be a problem.
They are probably all old men at the ASA who think it's fine to have a
sexy-looking female for men to look at, but that you couldn't trust ladies
in the street with a picture of a good-looking man. It's ridiculous.
"I find it astonishing that this small group is deciding what the moral
code is for this country."
An earlier poster campaign for Club 18-30 which boasted a man's crotch over
the legend: "Girls. Can we interest you in a package holiday?" suffered a
similar fate.
Graham Fowler of the ASA defended the committee. "It is not a stupid
decision. It is based on detailed research and knowledge of the industry,"
he said. "We are not moral arbiters. Whether we like it or not, society
views men and women differently. All we do is reflect back the views of
society."
The committee considers whether an advert would cause widespread offence,
he said. A spokesman for the committee ad mitted they viewed men and
women's body parts differently.
"People will appreciate that there's a difference between focussing on the
groin area and the chest area in advertising," he added.
Meanwhile, Brass Monkeys is left with a new line in underpants to shift. "I
told them we're doing men's underwear. What do they want us to do? We can
hardly put the underpants on his head," said Mr Higgs.
