Daily Star whacked for Page 3 ad

The Daily Star’s attempt to bring some sunshine to readers’ cold and miserable winter by offering a date with a Page 3 “babe” has received a frosty reception at the ad watchdog, which has branded the campaign sexist, offensive and socially irresponsible.
The ads, which appeared both on the newspaper’s website and in the paper itself, ran across three executions and featured skantily-clad models, under captions including “The girls are desperate to meet you!”.
Further text stated “We’re all skint, shivering and face the prospect of politicians droning on for months ahead of this year’s General Election, so we decided it was time to cheer up Britain… Daily Star models…are the best, brightest and bubbliest girls around, combining brains, beauty and winning personalities.
“We’ll fix it for two of our top Page 3 girls to visit your workplace so you can get to know them. Just think how chuffed your workmates will be to learn you have bagged them this prize.”
However, not everyone was quite so chuffed at the prospect of offering models as prizes, and the Advertising Standards Authority received 31 complaints, including one from the campaign group Object.
The complainants, who believed the ads were sexist and objectified women, also challenged whether they were offensive and socially irresponsible.
In response, Daily Star owner Express Newspapers made great play of the fact that the paper was edited by a woman, and even its photographer was a woman, too. The editor especially prided herself on the ‘Star Babes’ being portrayed as three-dimensional, it added.
More famous models were viewed as celebrities and some women aspired to be like them, it claimed, adding that the competition’s reference to winner’s workmates being “chuffed” was puffery and reflected wording that would be used if the prize was meeting a pop star or actor at someone’s workplace.
But, while the ASA noted similar images routinely appeared in the paper, it considered the implication was that the prize would be enjoyed or envied on the basis of the women’s attractiveness rather than because of their personality or other non-physical qualities.
While it recognised the ads were targeted at Daily Star readers and website users, many of whom would likely have no objection to ‘page 3’ itself, it ruled that some people would find the notion of offering women as a prize to be sexist, offensive and socially irresponsible.
Banning the ads from appearing again, the regulator warned the Daily Star to ensure that its future advertising contained nothing that was socially irresponsible or likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

1 Comment on "Daily Star whacked for Page 3 ad"