Brisbane strip club under fire for pizza ad

The controversial ad that appeared in Brisbane's Central Station. Picture / news.com.au

A Strip club owner has been forced to remove an advertisement from one of Brisbane's busiest train stations after the advertising watchdog found it debased women by comparing pizzas to breasts.

Owner of The Grosvenor topless bar and strip club Jasmine Robson was stunned by the decision from the Advertising Standards Bureau who received complaints about the ad.

The poster shows two pizzas with pepperoni clustered in their centres under the words: "Pizzas or Jugs? Grab both for just $25".

Robson said the ads were displayed in Central Station recently, but were due to be removed yesterday following the ASB's finding.

"Now I think this is political correctness/censorship gone absolutely mad," she said.

"I am shocked that the ASB would determine that this ad is exploitative or demeaning to women in any way, especially considering there isn't even a woman on the billboard."

Robson said she was careful to devise an ad that did not contain provocative or scantily-clad females.

"I even removed part of our logo that reads 'topless bar and strip club'. I feel that I went to great lengths to ensure the advertisement was received in the spirit in which it was delivered," she said.

"I believe if you ran a poll, most women would find it to be well done and even humorous."

But in the ASB's determination, they said the Board upheld the complaints determining the ad breached the advertising code.
Some of the complaints included that the ad condoned and suggests sexual harassment of women "by suggesting that people can grab 'jugs' at the bar'."

They also said it objectified and demeaned women, and made a sexist reference to womens' bodies.

In their ruling, the ASB noted the image used in the ad was of a picture of pizzas with "strategically placed pepperoni for the purpose of creating the impression of breasts with pronounced nipples"

"The Board noted the placement of the pizzas side by side was an element also adding to the suggestion that the pizzas were a depiction of breasts," they found.

"The Board considered the use of the term pizzas or jugs and noted that the colloquial definition for jugs can include breasts.

The Board noted that the image juxtaposed with the text did amount to an overall impression that was intended to make the pizzas appear as breasts.

The Board considered that by including an image of breasts, albeit presented as pizzas did introduce a level of sexual appeal as womens' breasts are often considered an object of sexual desire."

The ASB found that the representation of womens' breasts as pizzas did reduce women to an object which was exploitative by way of purposefully debasing women.

"In addition, the promotion of being able to grab the deal at a bargain price was degrading by lowering in character and quality women in general," the ASB found.

"In the Board's view, the overall impression was that the image and words did amount to a depiction that was clearly appearing to purposefully debase a group of persons, for the enjoyment of others... and did breach section 2.2 of the Code."