Category Archives: Scent

The above Marc Jacob´s perfume ad for the new scent, ´Oh, Lola´featuring Dakota Fanning has actually been banned in the UK.  The advertisement, as you can see above, shows the bottle of perfume positioned in the lap of 17 year old Dakota Fanning.  The British Advertising Standards Authority is quite tough on ads with models deemed overly sexy, skinny, or airbrushed.  The ASA has banned the ad in the UK for portraying 17-year-old Fanning as being too sexy and also too childlike.   They are also banning it because of the placement of the perfume bottle, shaped as a blooming flower, between her legs.  The ASA says ¨We considered that the length of her dress, her leg and position of the perfume bottle drew attention to her sexuality. Because of that, along with her appearance, we considered the ad could be seen to sexualize a child. ¨

I must say I find it interesting that the ad was banned in a European country and not the USA. I usually think of Europe being more lax about body standards and nudity etc.  However, the UK is a bit different than many other European countries.  Personally I think banning the ad is a bit silly.  It´s still available on the internet, and compared to the other things children see on a daily basis in video games, television and movies, I personally don´t think that this is that big of a deal.  I don´t think that banning things is always the best way to go about things…young children will be exposed to things in their life and the most important thing you can do is to teach them the correct values and how to deal with what they see, and not hide it from them.  I am obviously talking primarily about this ad, of course there are many things that are inappropriate for kids but this I don´t neccessarily think is one of them.  In the end, I guess this is only my personal opinion and clearly many might not agree (especially the ASA in Britain!). 

What do you think? Is this ad too suggestive?  Do you agree with it´s being banned? 

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