ASA bans Gucci ad in Britain for featuring an 'unhealthily thin' model

London: Fashion brand Gucci's advertisement featuring an "unhealthily thin" model has been banned in Britain.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that the way the model is standing and her "dark make up" make her look "gaunt", reports mirror.co.uk.

The fashion house defended the advertisement and insisted that the woman was just "toned and slim". However, the ASA ruled the image was "irresponsible".

The advertisement appeared on The Times website in December 2015 and included stills at the end of a video of two models -- one sitting on a sofa, and another leaning against a wall wearing a long, printed dress.

The ASA found the advertisement breached the rules on responsible advertising as set out in the code. One complainant, who believed the featured models appeared unhealthily thin, had challenged whether the advertisement was irresponsible.

The ASA upheld the complaint saying: "We considered that her torso and arms were quite slender and appeared to be out of proportion with her head and lower body. Further, her pose elongated her torso and accentuated her waist so that it appeared to be very small.

"We also considered that her sombre facial expression and dark make up, particularly around her eyes, made her face look gaunt. For those reasons, we considered that the model leaning against the wall appeared to be unhealthily thin in the image and, therefore, concluded that the ad was irresponsible."

The Italian fashion house told the ASA that the advertisements were part of a video portraying a dance party and were aimed at an older, sophisticated audience, in keeping with The Times' readership.

It added that it did not feel the model did not appear unhealthily thin but "toned and slim", because "nowhere in the advertisements were any models' "bones" visible, their make up was natural rather than heavy... lighting was uniform and warm to ensure there were no hollows caused by shadows and their clothes were not revealing".

The advertisement must not appear again in its current form, the fashion brand was told.