A poster for Tunnocks Tea Cakes has been banned after one complaint of being ‘sexist’.
The image showed a female tennis player holding a tea cake in place of a tennis ball at the top of her thigh, with her skirt raised at the hip.
Text underneath the image of the women stated “Where do you keep yours?” with text underneath the product image stating “Serve up a treat.”
The poster was first noticed back in November last year as Scottish tennis player Andy Murray served up against Roger Federer in Glasgow’s SSE Hydro.
One complainant challenged whether the advert was offensive and irresponsible because they believed it was sexist and objectified women.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) noted the ad depicted a woman lifting her tennis skirt while holding a tea cake beside her hip, in place of where a tennis ball would usually be held, with her bare thigh exposed and her underwear clearly visible.
A statement said: “We considered the phrase “serve up a treat” would be understood to be a double entendre, implying the woman featured in the ad was the “treat”, and considered this was likely to be viewed as demeaning towards women.
“We considered that although the image was only mildly sexual in nature, when combined with the phrase “serve up a treat” it had the effect of objectifying women by using a woman’s physical features to draw attention to the ad.”
