Highlights
- The ASA has banned a PixVideo AI video editing advert for implying users could remove a woman's clothing.
- Eight people complained the ad sexualised and objectified women and was irresponsible and harmful.
- PixVideo removed the ad and suspended all advertising to carry out an internal audit.
Eight people reported the ad to the ASA saying it treated women as sexual objects and sent a harmful message.
The ASA agreed saying the ad implied users could digitally remove a woman's clothes without her knowledge or consent which it said was completely unacceptable.
Company pulls ad
The company behind the app Saeta Tech Ltd said it understood why people were upset but argued the ad was misleading about what the product actually does.
It said its rules ban users from creating nude or sexual content and the app cannot remove clothing or generate naked images.
The company said it also uses AI to automatically block any explicit content from being created.
After the complaints Saeta Tech removed the ad straight away and stopped all its advertising while it carried out a full review of its marketing.
The ASA said even though the app itself does not allow users to remove clothing the ad still implied that it could.
"Because the ad implied that viewers could use an app to remove a woman's clothing we considered it condoned digitally altering and exposing women's bodies without their consent," the regulator said.
The ASA ruled the ad must never appear again and told PixVideo to make sure all future adverts treat women with respect and do not cause widespread offence.
