UK's Advertising Standards Authority rapped an artificial grass company in Oldham in Greater Manchester, England for featuring a scantily-clad woman on a billboard – sandwiched by two sub-headings “Perfect 365 days a year” and “Get laid by the best”.
They also noted the spelling of the word "arse" (Referring to the heading in capital letters which read: “ARTIFICIAL GRARSE EXPERTS”. Gr-arse, get it?) was clearly a reference to the model's buttocks and had therefore made the exposed part of her body the "focus" of the ad.
As a result of the watchdog’s decision, the advert cannot appear again “in its current form” and the company received a warning that their marketing material should be “socially responsible” in the future.
Great Grass MCR Ltd had argued most people found it amusing. However, the ASA did not see the funny side and concluded by saying the billboard “objectified and stereotyped women as sexual objects”, due to its use of a near-naked model and sexually charged wording.
After taking their first advert down in November of last year, the company replaced the billboard with another one that "apologised" to those who found their previous message offensive.
They sarcastically wrote: "You found it offensive, we all found it funny", the poster had proclaimed. The billboard then featured an angry face emoji followed by the number four* alongside a laughing face emoji next to 40,000,000.
(*Referring to the 4 complaints received by ASA).
"Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right", the ad continued. The poster ended with a promotional offer for people to quote 'not offended' to receive 10% off their next order.
And now, Great Grass are back once again with another new billboard – this time replacing the picture with a topless man.
The new ad comes with text that reads: "Great abs, great grass", and the company also stuck with the boast that their artificial grass is "perfect 365 days a year".
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