Gucci ad banned in UK for using 'unhealthily thin' model

An advertisement by Italian couture house, Gucci, has been banned in the UK for allegedly showing an ‘unhealthily thin’ model. A video was run on the Times website in December 2015, along with still images, featuring models waving their arms about at a dance party.

Apart from the ‘party’ looking a bit odd, the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) took issue with one of the women in particular, who they said looked ‘gaunt’, reported Metro. The model in question was photographed leaning against the wall in a long printed dress. Someone filed a formal complaint against the ad, saying it was irresponsible to feature such a thin model and the ASA agreed.

“We considered that her torso and arms were quite slender and appeared to be out of proportion with her head and lower body,” the regulator said.

“Further, her pose elongated her torso and accentuated her waist so that it appeared to be very small. We also considered that her sombre facial expression and dark make up, particularly around her eyes, made her face look gaunt. For those reasons, we considered that the model leaning against the wall appeared to be unhealthily thin in the image, and therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible.”

Gucci said it “didn’t show any models’ bones.” But the couture house told the ASA the model was not too thin, but instead “toned and slim”. It argued that “nowhere in the ads were any models’ bones visible, their make up was natural rather than heavy.”

Despite Gucci apparently taking care not to show any models’ bones, the fashion brand was told that the ad must not appear again in its current form.