UK Bans Kazam Smartphone TV Commercial For Objectifying Women

Let’s just say, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) would have a field day with Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. ads. The ASA this week came out with guns blazing in an attempt to cut down on the objectification of women in media, and smartphone maker Kazam was the unlucky recipient of a headshot.

The ad for the Tornado 348 smartphone, which Kazam claims is the world’s thinnest smartphone, actually places more of an emphasis on model/actress Camilla Hansson than the smartphone in question. The commercial starts off with Ms. Hansson walking around in her skivvies, caressing her body as she slowly puts on her pants and irons a shirt. And it’s this focus on the “female form” that drew the ire of the ASA.

The ASA writes that the ad “focused entirely on the actor in her underwear, including scenes that featured several close-up shots that lingered over her breasts, buttocks and lips, which we considered were sexually suggestive.”

It continued, stating that the “suggestive nature of the music and voice-over and further reinforced because the focus on the woman bore no relevance to the advertised product.” To the ASA’s credit, the actual smartphone doesn’t even make an appearance until the last 10 seconds of the minute-long commercial.

For its part, Kazam tried to explain that the point of the ad was to show how slim the smartphone was, and that the actress didn’t realize that the Tornado 348 was tucked into the pocket of the shirt that she had just ironed until a phone call came through. While it’s a clever ad concept, the ASA simply isn’t buying that explanation, and concluded that the “overall style of the ad served to objectify women.”

We have no doubt that such an ad would have no trouble passing muster here in the United States, but to see for yourself, you can view it below: