The ad watchdog has chastised a spot featuring a woman in a sexual position being sheared by a man, after a complainant said they thought it was “a covert ad for a porn site”.
The ad for ShearEwe shows an image of a woman in a pink jumpsuit while a man looks as if he is about to shear her like a sheep. The text reads: “Taking the hard work out of hobby farming”.
The complainant wrote: “The central shearer is shearing a woman removing her scanty pink jumpsuit while restraining her. The objectification of women, the sexual positioning of the woman, the representation of a woman as an animal and the restraint used were offensive. I actually thought this was someone's idea of a sick joke.”
The Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) said the representation of a woman as a sheep was not relevant to the service advertised, and found the ad was exploitative of women.
The advertiser has opted to modify the material.
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