France’s advertising watchdog, the Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité (ARPP), has called on Saint Laurent to modify two ads from its spring 2017 campaign for being “degrading” to women.
The two photos in question feature a woman in roller skates and fishnets with her legs spread and another with a woman in roller skates bent over a stool. The French fashion house has received plenty of backlash on social media and 50 formal complaints to the ARPP, according to Reuters.
ARPP director Stéphane Martin said the brand “incontestably breached” rules that state advertisements should maintain “dignity and respect in representation of the person.” A meeting between Saint Laurent and ARPP is scheduled for Friday, after which the committee will ask the brand to either change its campaign or have the ads withdrawn.
“I am not sure that [Saint Laurent’s] female clients would like to be associated with these images,” Martin said to The Guardian, “We had a similar type of porno chic [in fashion advertising] a decade ago, and here we have it coming back again, which isn’t acceptable.”
Saint Laurent, part of the luxury group Kering, has not issued an official response. The company could not be reached for comment.