An Instagram advert for Halloween outfits has been banned for objectifying women

The ASA has ruled that advert implied ‘women should aspire to being objectified’ and ‘was likely to cause serious offence’

An Instagram advertisement for Halloween costumes by retailer Babyboo Fashion has been banned by the advertising watchdog for objectifying women.

The advertisement was in the form of a video posted on Instagram in October and featured shots of women wearing lingerie, some paired with angel wings, others with animal ears.

The video carried a voiceover taken from a clip from the 2004 film Mean Girls that quoted the character Cady Heron (played by Lindsay Lohan) saying: “Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total [bleeped out] and no other girls can say anything about it. The hardcore girls just wear lingerie and some form of animal ears.”

However, a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) argued that the advertisement was sexist.

“The complainant, who believed the ad was sexist, objectifying, and gave a harmful message to young women, challenged whether it was offensive and irresponsible”, the ASA states.

Babyboo Fashion did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries, however, the organisation ruled that the advert should be banned.

Explaining its ruling, the organisation stated: “Although the models were shown in lingerie, we considered that most of the poses were not overly sexualised.

“However, in contrast, one shot depicted two models in lingerie and angel wings, kneeling on a bed with their legs apart. Both models looked at the camera seductively, while one of them twirled her hair and the other model moved her hands along her thighs.

“We considered that the shots of the models on the bed were suggestive, the poses were unnecessarily sexualised and had the effect of objectifying the women.”

It added that it understood the bleeped out word in the advert was “s***” as that is the word used in Mean Girls.

“We understood that the voiceover quote was taken from a film. However, we considered it was presented out of context and was likely to be taken at face value,” the ASA added.

“The term ‘s***’ was a negative stereotype of women and was commonly used to refer to women who had or were perceived to have many sexual partners, in a derogatory way that passed judgment on those behaviours,” they added.

“We considered that the use of that word in the context of the ad was likely to be seen as demeaning to women.”

The ASA went on to say that the message perpetuated by the advert was one that suggested women should aspire to be admired for their looks.

“While there was nothing inherently wrong with dressing in the way shown in the ad, or having multiple sexual partners, we considered that linking those things with the denigrating term ‘s***’, and implying women should aspire to being objectified, was problematic,” it stated.

“Overall, we considered that the ad was likely to cause serious offence and included a gender stereotype in a way that was likely to cause harm. We therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible and breached the Code.”

The Independent has contacted Babyboo Fashion for comment.