Stella McCartney complaint over underwear promotion fails

Stella McCartney has had an advertising complaint rejected over her fashion brand being used in a promotion for personal hygiene products.

The magazine and online ads for Bodyform offered a prize of Stella McCartney underwear, but stated that the offer was "not in association with Stella McCartney".

Stella McCartney Ltd complained that the ad was denigratory and took unfair advantage of the brand because it associated it with a personal hygiene product without permission.

But SCA Hygiene Products said the ad made no explicit or implied comparison with the designer's brand, adding that the company "could not imagine that readers would consider that SCA were attacking Stella McCartney by simply offering their product as a prize".

SCA said it was customary for sales promotions to refer to the products of other manufacturers as prizes without obtaining permission.

The Advertising Standards Authority said SCA was not required to obtain approval before offering the underwear as a prize, and said the ad was unlikely to be seen by readers as discrediting the fashion line.

"We therefore concluded that the ad did not take unfair advantage of the Stella McCartney brand by referring to it without permission and was therefore unlikely to be interpreted as denigratory," the ASA said.