Billboard poster for fake grass near M60 found to 'demean and objectify women'

An artificial grass firm has been ordered to take down a billboard poster after the advertising watchdog ruled it demeaned and objectified women. It's the second time Oldham-based Great Grass has been told to remove a poster from a hording near to the M60 motorway in Oldham.

The poster for the Great Grass company, which appeared at the junction of Hollins Road and Manchester Road in Failsworth, featured a woman wearing flesh-coloured underwear and holding a potted plant in front of her crotch, with a headline stating 'no trimming needed!' The text was followed by a winking emoji symbol.

Great Grass was ordered to removal a giant poster at the same location two years ago.

A complainant said the latest billboard ad objectified and sexualised women and was offensive, harmful and irresponsible.

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Great Grass, in response, told the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that the ad had been on display for several months, claiming they had received 47 positive comments about it and suggesting it had not offended most of the 'hundreds of thousands' of people who had seen it given there had only been one complaint.

The firm said it was wrong to assume that the person featured in the ad was a woman when it could 'equally be a man or a transgender person'.

75Media, which owned the poster site, said it took the ASA's concerns 'very seriously' and would remove the ad immediately if it was found to breach advertising rules.

The ASA said those who saw the ad would interpret the image as featuring a woman, due to her slim waist, curved hips, slim arms and lack of obvious body hair, while the image of the pot plant placed over the groin area