Five adverts for the Chinese shopping app Temu have been banned in the UK for their sexualised nature, with one found to have been irresponsible in how it depicted a young girl to sell bikinis.

The company has been warned against presenting under-18s in a sexual way in future or portraying adults as “stereotypical sexual objects” after several ads featured “disembodied images of the women wearing tight and revealing clothing”.

The fast-growing tech business was reprimanded by the UK’s advertising watchdog after one of its ads used a model who appeared to be aged between eight and 11 posed with her hand on her hip, which was found to be “quite adult for a girl of her age”.

The picture appeared alongside ads for household products including a facial roller, balloon ties and a jockstrap which, as they lacked labels, “appeared to be items sexual in nature”, according to the Advertising Standards Authority.

The ads were shown alongside those for household objects that “could have been interpreted as sexual in nature”, according to the ASA. The facial roller and balloon ties were “phallic” and the foot massager “could also have been understood in the same way”

A jockstrap was “augmented in the crotch, emphasising the outline of genitalia” while some cycling underwear had pink padding at the back and “appeared as underwear with the bottom cut out”. A further ad, shown in a puzzle app, featured images of leopard-print underwear with the back removed and a woman wearing a short black skirt and tights.

The ASA found that the ads were “likely to cause widespread offence” as they appeared in media where adult-themed or sexual products were “unlikely to be anticipated”.

All this and potentially sinister practices on the app.

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    38 months ago

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    Five adverts for the Chinese shopping app Temu have been banned in the UK for their sexualised nature, with one found to have been irresponsible in how it depicted a young girl to sell bikinis.

    It also criticised Temu for three ads, two on a chess website and one on a translation site, that featured women wearing tight-fitting clothing “that accentuated their body shape” but did not show their faces in full.

    A further ad, shown in a puzzle app, featured images of leopard-print underwear with the back removed and a woman wearing a short black skirt and tights.

    The chess site said it had contacted its advertising management partner to prevent Temu ads being shown on its platform again as the images did not align with its values.

    Temu said all of the product photos complained about had been provided by third-party sellers, who had to stick to its marketplace policies that prohibited pornographic, obscene or harassing images.

    Temu said the images of adult models without a face were not intended to sexually objectify the women but to give “a clear representation of how the clothing was worn” – a similar approach to that on other e-commerce platforms.


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