The ads, which also ran in Tatler and House and Garden, depicted a series of Polaroid photos of women wearing skimpy clothing, accompanied by a woman's name, a telephone number and a mark out of 10.
The advertiser defended the ads saying that it had sought the advice of the copy advice team from the Committee of Advertising Practice. However, when the Advertising Standards Authority looked into the claims, the copy advice team said the ads that were published were different from those it had approved.
The ASA ruled that the marks out of 10 on the ad would likely demean and offend women. It also told Laing to follow the recommendations of the copy advice team, which had in the first place told the advertiser to remove the marks out of 10.
It also advised that, although the ad would be unlikely to offend readers of GQ, it could offend House and Garden readers. Five complaints came from House and Garden readers, while one was from a Vogue reader.
The ASA was concerned that the advertiser placed a different ad to that which the copy advice team had seen and told Laing to follow advice given by the team in future.
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