Council investigates life-size poster on main road of naked woman taking a shower

Gedling Borough Council is investigating a life-sized poster on a main road of a naked woman taking a shower.

The image was put up on the side of a bathroom shop on Arnot Hill Road in Arnold, Nottinghamshire and prompted a complaint to the council, which has since reported the poster to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The owner of the shop, Sam Collins, has defended the poster, arguing that it is no worse than images shared on social media.

"It's just a lady taking a shower," he told the BBC. "There's nothing rude and she's not really baring anything.

"Seeing how stressful life is at the moment, we thought people could laugh and smile about it."

Mr Collins revealed that the council had asked him to remove the poster while the investigation was ongoing.

A spokesperson for the council said it had received a complaint about the board and that its planning team was investigating.

A spokesperson for the ASA said it was assessing the poster, and that it would be removed if it was found to have broken rules.

It wouldn’t be the first time an advertisement was criticised for its presentation of women.

In March, an advertisement for Missguided was banned for “objectifying” women.

The ASA ruled that a poster for the online retailer was “overly sexualised” and could not appear again in its current form.

The poster was seen on railway platforms in November 2019 and featured a model wearing sheer tights, high heels and a blazer with nothing underneath.

In response, Missguided argued that while the poster did feature an image of a young woman “baring some degree of skin” that this was “in keeping with industry norms and similar ads in the fast-fashion industry”.

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Missguided advert banned for ‘presenting women as sexual objects’