Sun red-carded for Page 3 ‘boob’

Sun red-carded for Page 3 'prize'An email campaign for The Sun’s Dream Team fantasy football competition which said readers could “get their mitts on a Page 3 girl” if they recruited players to their league has been shown the red-card by the ad watchdog.
Wunderman handles The Sun’s Dream Team account – for which it has received several nominations at next month’s DMA Awards – although it is not known whether the agency was responsible for this boob of a campaign.
The only award it will get is for being one of the most complained about emails ever, with 1,036 gripes submitted to the Advertising Standards Authority, many of which were submitted as part of a campaign led by SumOfUs.org.
The email stated: “If you recruit 10 players or more to your league you will get: Entered into a prize draw for a date with a Page 3 girl – we might even let you pick which one. Don’t listen to your girlfriend when she says size doesn’t matter. The bigger your Mini League is, the more prizes you can get your mitts on.”
The complainants, who believed that to offer a date with a Page 3 girl as a prize was sexist and objectified women, challenged whether the ad was offensive and socially irresponsible. Many also challenged whether the ad was socially irresponsible for offering a date with a Page 3 girl as an incentive to gamble.
In response, News UK, publisher of The Sun, defended the promotion, claiming that it was “appropriate” for the target audience – 93% of email recipients were male – and that it would not offend them. It also denied that the promotion did used “seductive, glamorous or inappropriate images”.
However, the ASA was not convinced. It stated: “In the context of the ad, we considered that to offer a date with a woman as a reward for success in the game was demeaning to women and objectified those offered as prizes.
“Because we considered that the email presented the women as objects to be won, we concluded that it was sexist, offensive and socially irresponsible.”
In response to the ruling, a spokesman for The Sun said the paper was deeply disappointed at the ban. “We believe that the email and prize was an obviously light-hearted marketing exercise. We will abide by the judgment, but wish to register our deep disappointment at this decision.”

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2 Comments on "Sun red-carded for Page 3 ‘boob’"

  1. Sun red-carded for offering Page 3 model as a ‘prize’ http://t.co/oVfSyeAQFf #digitalmarketing #emailmarketing #directmarketing #CRM

  2. RT @DM_editor: Sun red-carded for offering Page 3 model as a ‘prize’ http://t.co/oVfSyeAQFf #digitalmarketing #emailmarketing #directmarke…

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