There used to be a time when ‘porno chic’ was a thing. Back in the 1980s, scantily-clad models in stiletto heels and leather collars would pose for the likes of Helmut Newton and the shots would somehow end up plastered all over fashion bibles: Vogue, Elle Magazine and the like.
Fast forward to 2016 and these Terry Richardson-esque shots don’t fly anymore—something highly respected French fashion house Yves Saint Laurent learned the hard way this week.
A French advertising watch dog on Monday rang the alarm bells over the designer’s new advertising campaign featuring ultra skinny models in “degrading poses” after receiving over 50 complaints.
One of the ad posters shows a reclining woman in a fur coat and fishnet tights, legs wide open, while another one features a model in a leotard and roller skate stilettos bending backwards.
The images immediately caused a storm on social media.
Many people who issued formal complaints denounced the pictures as “incitements to rape,” prompting the Haute Autorite de Regulation Professionnelle de la Publicite (ARPP) to contact the brand and ask to have them changed.
ARPP director Stephane Martin told reporters that the ads were a serious breach of rules set by the advertising industry to maintain “dignity and respect in the representation of the person.”
“I am not sure that (Saint Laurent’s) female clients would like to be associated with these images,” he told AFP.
France’s leading feminist group, Osez le feminisme (“Dare to be Feminist”) called for the campaign to be withdrawn altogether.
“It ticks all the sexist boxes. The women are objectified, hypersexualised and put in submissive positions,” Raphaelle Remy-Leleu, a spokeswoman for the group told AFP.
She pointed out that the luxury brand had already landed in hot water in 2015 after casting a deadly thin model, whose ribcage was showing, in one of its poster ads.
The British advertising Standard authority banned the ad at the time.
But this time, the concern is all the more serious that the images have an “extremely violent” subtext according to Remy-Leleu.
Yves Saint Laurent did not reply to Heat Street‘s request for comment.
