Mega fashion brand Yves Saint Laurent has been asked to change its new AW2017 advert campaign by the French advertising watchdog on the grounds that it is “degrading” to women.
The Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité (ARPP) requested that the brand make amends to the adverts after 50 people complained about them, reports the Business of Fashion.
The ARPP head Stéphane Martin spoke to Reuters and said that the images breached advertising standards in France and that they negated the “dignity and respect in the representation of the person.” He also said that there were concerns about how the very thin models used in the campaign would influence young girls.
HIANDRA – FALL 17 – IDOL PREVIEW – #YSL06 BY @anthonyvaccarello
PHOTOGRAPHED BY @inezandvinoodh#YSL #SaintLaurent #YvesSaintLaurent pic.twitter.com/ir1ai6wWbU— SAINT LAURENT (@YSL) February 10, 2017
The campaign features multiple images of a model wearing a fur coat, fishnet tights and court shoes with her legs spread open and another of a super skinny model in roller skates bending over a stool. The French feminist group Osez le féminisme (‘Dare to be feminist’) said that the subtext of the images was “extremely violent”.
“It ticks all the sexist boxes,” said the group’s spokeswoman, Raphaëlle Rémy-Leleu. “The women are objectified, hypersexualised and put in submissive positions.”
FERNANDA – FALL 17– IDOL PREVIEW – #YSL06 BY @anthonyvaccarello
PHOTOGRAPHED BY @inezandvinoodh#YSL #SaintLaurent #YvesSaintLaurent pic.twitter.com/nHxBlv3I2l— SAINT LAURENT (@YSL) February 10, 2017
This isn’t the first time YSL has gotten in trouble over advertising standards. In 2015, the label released an advert starring a thin model whose rib cage was showing. The advert was banned in the UK soon after.
