Mileage advert ‘degrading’

10 August 2011  

Consumer watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority have found that a so-called ‘mileage correction’ firm has produced a billboard advert considered to be degrading to women.

The advert from a firm called Dashfixer included an image of a car and an image of a topless woman with her back to the viewer, but turning towards them with her hand covering one of her breasts.

The ASA noted the image of the semi-naked woman was unrelated to the product being advertised and that the ad appeared in an ‘untargeted medium’ as it appeared on a trailer parked at the side of a road.

In the ruling, the ASA stated “We considered that the image of a woman holding her naked breast was also gratuitous and implied that she was sexually available. We considered that the image could be seen as demeaning and degrading towards women and therefore concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.” The advert must not appear again in the current form.

So-called ‘mileage correction’ firms have found themselves under fire in recent weeks as the government aims to crack down on those involved in illegal clocking. Transport minister Mike Penning recently stated that he would like to see such operations properly licenced.