I Love Ugly tries to do u-turn on 'sexist' ads, fails

A new set of images have reversed the roles of the original campaign. Photo / I Love Ugly.

The New Zealand fashion label that came under criticism for producing "sexist" imagery in its latest jewellery campaign has released a fresh set of images.

The label, I Love Ugly, had received widespread criticism for its original ad campaign depicting a man fondling a woman's private parts, including her breasts and buttocks.

It has since released a new set of inversed images, with the woman fondling a naked, heavily tattooed man.

It posted the new images on its social media pages, promoting them as a fresh take on the collection.

"Another look at our latest jewellery collection, made from oxidised silver and 9ct gold.

"Jewellery is one of those things you either love or hate on a man," it said. "We tried our best to rework something that makes a lot of males a little uneasy and turn it into something the dubious could potentially see themselves wearing."

However, fans upset at the earlier version are not appeased by the inversed imagery.

Daniel Barrett said the new campaign did nothing to address the issues of the first one.

"Covering a non-eroticised part of the male body... A further demonstration of how the brand has no understanding of the power imbalance ingrained in society."

He said it was time for the label to reassess what it wanted to be known for.

Rebecca Matthews-Heron called for it to apologise.

"You need to apologise and withdraw your misogynist ad campaign if you don't want to lose customers. You've got this one badly, badly wrong."