Lovehoney under fire for 'inappropriate' Prince Harry advert in South …
The world's largest online sex toy company has been rapped by the advertising watchdog for an ad mocking Prince Harry displayed at a busy South London train station. The company timed the ad for its ball gags to coincide with the release of Harry's memoir Spare. The digital ad, run at Clapham Junction station, featured an image of a ball gag and large text that stated "Silence is golden, Harry".
Smaller text underneath the ad, shown on February 8, stated: "Spare ball gags available at www.lovehoney.co.uk." Someone complained to the Advertising Standards Authority that the ad was both offensive and inappropriately targeted at a public station where it could be seen by children. The company, reportedly valued at GBP850 million, was started for GBP9,000 in 2002 from a living room in Bath by entrepreneurs Neal Slateford and Richard Longhurst.
The sex toy company defended the advert
In 2016 they were awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise and met the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party. In 2021 they merged with German company WOW Tech Group to form the Lovehoney Group, the world's largest online adult retailer. The company said the ad was launched in response to the release of Prince Harry's memoir.
They said the book contained a number of indiscreet revelations, some of which had a sexual reference. They thought the ad was humorous and illustrated that not all family stories needed to be shared with the public. And because the ball gag had no sexual reference attached, children would not understand the sexual connotation and would probably ignore the ad or perhaps wonder what it was but not see any inappropriate hints.
The raunchy advert was put up at Clapham Junction (Image: James Mayer)
In its ruling the ASA agreed that the ad in itself was not offensive but upheld the complaint to it being displayed in an inappropriate place.
They said: "We understood that a ball gag was a sex toy that was placed in the mouth of a person to limit them from talking. "The ASA considered that some people would find the image of, and references to, a ball gag and the implication that it should be used to stop someone from speaking distasteful. However, we concluded that the ad was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence."
They added: "The ad appeared on a digital billboard at a busy train station, which was an untargeted medium, where it had the potential to be seen by a large number of people, including children. "The ad included a large image of a ball gag and a reference to ball gags in the text in the poster, which we considered inappropriate for children to see. We considered that while younger children were likely to be unaware of what the item was, older children might have greater awareness of what the object was intended for."
They continued: "We therefore considered that the ad was inappropriate for outdoor display where it could be seen by children. We concluded that the ad had been irresponsibly targeted. The ad must not appear again in the form complained of.
We told Lovehoney Group Ltd to ensure that their ads were appropriately targeted." Don't miss out on the biggest stories from across the city. Sign up to MyLondon's The 12 HERE for the 12 biggest stories each day.
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