UK watchdog bans Zara ads for featuring "unhealthily thin" models

UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned two Zara advertisements for portraying models who appeared “unhealthily thin,” ruling the images irresponsible and in breach of social responsibility rules.

The investigation concerned four product listings on Zara’s UK website, viewed in May 2025, each featuring female models wearing different outfits.

In one ad showing a model in an oversize pocket shirt, the ASA found that the low-cut design drew attention to the model’s protruding collarbones. The styling and pose emphasised her slim arms, shoulders, and chest, creating an impression that the model was unhealthily thin, it added.

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Another ad, featuring a model in a voluminous combined short dress, was also deemed to depict an unhealthily thin figure. Shadows over her legs accentuated their thinness, while her slicked-back hairstyle made her face appear slightly gaunt. The styling and lighting further highlighted protruding collarbones and an overall disproportionate appearance.

Two other ads were cleared by the ASA. One showed a close-up of the first model wearing a contrasting ruffle bodysuit, where her body appeared in proportion despite a visible collarbone. The other featured the second model in extra wide-leg high-waist jeans, where lighting and styling gave the impression of slim limbs but did not portray an unhealthy body image.

The ASA ruled that the two ads featuring the oversize pocket shirt and the short dress breached the CAP Code’s social responsibility rules and must not appear again in their current form. The regulator instructed Zara’s UK arm to ensure that future advertisements do not depict models in a way that suggests unhealthy thinness.

In response to the ASA's ruling, Zara stated that its model hiring practices align with the recommendations outlined in "Fashioning a healthy future", a report published by the UK Model Health Inquiry. The company highlighted its compliance with “recommendation three,” which requires models to provide medical certificates confirming good health from doctors specialising in eating disorders. Zara confirmed that both models featured in the ads held such medical certification.

Zara also said the images were not materially altered, aside from minor lighting and colouring adjustments, and noted that all four ads were part of a carousel displayed on its website.

Following receipt of the complaint, Zara said it promptly amended the product listings and removed the specific images in question. The company added that it had not received any direct complaints about the ads prior to the ASA investigation.

Earlier in 2024, the ASA banned Calvin Klein's ad featuring singer FKA Twigs for "irresponsibly objectifying women" and portraying the singer as a "stereotypical sexual object". The ad, which includes a poster first seen in April 2023, featured FKA Twigs shown wearing a denim shirt that was drawn halfway around her body, leaving the side of her buttocks and half of one breast exposed. 

The ASA considered such depiction placed viewers’ focus on the model’s body and physical features rather than on the clothing being advertised, and thus ruled the ad overtly sexual and not suitable for display in an untargeted medium.  

In response, the singer said that she does not see the "stereotypical sexual object" that the watchdog has labelled her as. In an Instagram post, the 35-year-old singer said "I see a beautiful, strong woman of colour whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can imagine." 

"In light of reviewing other campaigns past and current of this nature, I can’t help but feel there are some double standards here. So, to be clear, I am proud of my physicality and hold the art I create with my vessel to the standards of women like Josephine Baker, Eartha Kitt and Grace Jones who broke down barriers of what it looks like to be empowered and harness a unique embodied sensuality," wrote FKA Twigs.

The ASA eventually reversed its ruling a few months after, saying that while viewers' attention might be drawn to the model's body, the images were "not sexually explicit".

The ASA added that the ad had presented a woman who appeared to be "confident and in control". It concluded by saying that "the ads were unlikely to be seen as irresponsible or cause serious or widespread offence on the basis of sexual objectification". 

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