Sloggi has gone one pole too far.

Sloggi has finally gone one butt too far - Triumph the brand behind Sloggi, has been asked by the French advertising sector association to withdraw a billboard campaign for its Sloggi range, which has been widely condemned as offensive to women. The image depicts ladies in underwear and little else posing around poles in starstudded spotligts, reminiscent of a striptease stage.

Wanna see it? Of course you do. Read more.

Triumph has refused to pull the campaign - even though Sloggi ads are frequently on billboards placed near schools, their other favorite media buy being free postcards in bars and cafes. In another media, say a fashion magazine nesting next to Versace and Gucci ads, this ad might not offend as much as it does on a giant billboard outdoors.

"It's the striptease context which is the problem in the Sloggi ads... It is very damaging for the image of advertising," said Joseph Besnainou, director of the BVP association set up by the advertising industry to promote good practice. They worry that ads like these will prompt the government to replace the existing system of industry self-regulation with actual laws on what can and cannot be portrayed in ads.

If you want to make your voice heard in regards to these ads, Triumps headquarters snailmail is:

Triumph International
Spiesshofer & Braun,
Geschäftsleitung,
Promenadestrasse 24, 5330 Zurzach.
(Switzerland)

and their English website is at triumph-international.com , and for those who speak french sloggi.fr. (both sites are flash)

The Observer weighed in on the subject: "A hundred metres from the lycé e at La Celle Saint-Cloud in the Paris suburbs, the street poster for Sloggi's skimpy underwear could hardly be more cheekily positioned. With a national debate raging over girls wearing le string to school, the poster focuses on the bottoms of three adolescent girls writhing like go-go dancers in barely there underwear."

hat tip to Clayton who spotted the article at yahoo and ranted on adlist.