Steak and breasts ad draws complaint

An ad showing a woman holding a slab of raw steak in front of each of her bare breasts was likely to cause serious offence, the Advertising Standards Authority says.

A Neugebauer, R Thorn and others complained to the authority that the ad was offensive and socially unacceptable as it portrayed women as pieces of meat.

Huntsman Steakhouse owner P Barron told the authority the woman in the ad was his restaurant manager, the ad was partly her idea and she was totally comfortable with it.

The newspaper, D-Scene, had told him the ad met advertising standards and that it had been approved by senior management.

The authority noted that the ad was intended for student readership, during orientation week at Otago University.

But it found it used sexual appeal to draw attention and degraded women in general, thus breaching advertising standards.

It also said the ad crossed the threshold to likely cause serious offence in prevailing community standards.

Although university students were targeted, the newspaper was available to the wider community, which included minors.

The board upheld the complaint.

-NZPA