The poster, created by TBWA\London, used the headline 'FCUK vanity. New and only at Boots'. French Connection and Boots have a licensing agreement allowing the chemist to use the FCUK brand and distribute its cosmetic range.
The ASA concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious or widespread offence and ordered the brand and TBWA\London to amend the work with help from the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP).
French Connection had already been warned that 'FCUK' should not be used in a sentence where it could be interpreted as 'fuck'. But French Connection said it had purposely tried to avoid that by positioning 'FCUK' above 'vanity' so the words would not run as a sentence.
FCUK said it would appeal against the ruling, adding that it was "extremely disappointed" with the decision because the ads only received two complaints.
It argued that it had followed the same layout when advertising other ranges, such as FCUK Grooming and FCUK Shoes, without any complaints.
Last year, the ASA ruled another FCUK campaign offensive, when it distributed free condoms with T-shirts bearing slogans such as 'Practice safe sex, go FCUK yourself'. It came six months after the brand was ordered to have all its posters pre-vetted.
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