PC Format discontinues “sexist and offensive” advert

An advertisement for CoolMags featuring a woman on a toilet with her underwear below her knees has resulted in an Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) complaint.

The April 2013 edition of PC Format published an advertisement featuring a woman seated on a toilet with her underwear below her knees. She is shown reading a PC Format magazine and the wording above her says “The GTX680 is how big?”.

This advertisement did not go down well with Karen Brand, who lodged a complaint with the ASA arguing that the advertisement uses a woman as an object to attract men to their product.

“Furthermore, the advertisement is sexist and offensive to women,” said Brand.

Panorama Publications, the publisher of the PC Format magazine, responded saying that that the advertisement has been discontinued and would not be used again.

The ASA has a long standing principle which holds that where an advertiser provides an unequivocal undertaking to withdraw or amend its advertising, the undertaking is accepted without considering the merits of the matter.