Adverts for breast enhancement surgery that were shown during ITV Two’s Love Island have been banned by the advertising watchdog after it backed campaigners who complained they were exploitative of young women’s insecurities.
The commercials for the firm MYA, which depicted women dancing and laughing around a swimming pool and on a beach and a boat, were labelled “irresponsible and harmful” by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on Wednesday. Its report said the adverts glamorised and trivialised such surgery.
“We considered that the ad went beyond presenting the lifestyle of women who had breast enlargement in a positive light and implied that the women were only able to enjoy the aspirational lifestyle shown, and to be happy with their bodies, because they had undergone that surgery,” the watchdog said.
“We also considered that the focus on the aspirational lifestyle and the tone of the ad, in combination with the statement ‘join them and thousands more’ – which suggested that it was common to undergo breast enlargement and acted as an explicit call to action – had the effect of trivialising the decision to undergo that surgery.”
The ASA acted after receiving 17 complaints, including one from the Mental Health Foundation. The charity’s director, Isabella Goldie, welcomed the decision as a “watershed moment for cosmetic surgery advertising”.
She said: “The conclusions of this ruling are a step towards tackling the pressure around body image,” adding that the charity’s research led it to believe that such concerns were “one of the root causes of mental ill health in young people”.
She added: “Implying that people can only enjoy body confidence and an aspirational lifestyle by undergoing cosmetic surgery is dangerous and unacceptable.”
MYA had argued that the commerical focused on the positive aspects of women’s lifestyles and did not explore the negative attitudes towards their body image before surgery. The firm claimed the ads did not trivialise the decision to undergo surgery, nor did it imply that the only reason the featured women were able to enjoy themselves was because of breast enlargement.
After the ruling, it said it would engage with the ASA and a mental health charity before undertaking its next advertising campaign.
NHS England’s chief executive, Simon Stevens, backed the ASA’s ruling. “Stoking anxiety about body image as a way of selling cosmetic surgery is an additional pressure on young people’s mental health and wellbeing that they – and the NHS – can well do without.”
Love Island, the reality television show in whichyoung men and women were encouraged to couple up in order to progress towards a cash prize, has been criticised for promoting unhealthy behaviour.
In June, a domestic abuse charity said there were “clear warning signs” in the behaviour of one contestant, accusing him of gaslighting – questioning people’s memory of events to make them doubt themselves – and emotional abuse
ITV has not responded to a request for comment.
