Case Report ISSUES RAISED Sex/sexuality/nudity S/S/N - general Language Inappropriate language DESCRIPTION OF THE ADVERTISEMENT

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1 Case Report 1 Case Number 0267/16 2 Advertiser Lululemon 3 Product Clothing 4 Type of Advertisement / media Poster 5 Date of Determination 22/06/ DETERMINATION Dismissed ISSUES RAISED Sex/sexuality/nudity S/S/N - general Language Inappropriate language DESCRIPTION OF THE ADVERTISEMENT This poster in the store window of Lululemon features the text, "children are the orgasm of life. just like you did not know what an orgasm was before you had one, you won't know how great children are until you have them." This quote is surrounded by other quotes, for example, "have you woken up two days in a row uninspired? change your life!" and "Observe a plant before and after water..." The text is in white against a red background. THE COMPLAINT A sample of comments which the complainant/s made regarding this advertisement included the following: Where do I start? 1) This is on a door at an entrance where people walk in with their children. It's not appropriate to use such explicit sexual language in front of children. It's not like you can avoid seeing it (as in, it's in a magazine that you choose to open or something). 2) comparing children to a sexual climax is also completely offensive and inappropriate. I'm not a prude, but every person I have shown this photo to has had the same reaction. Which begs the question, "is this why they put it there?". This is also offensive, because it means they are using children, and the innocent idea of children, to get a shock reaction from people. THE ADVERTISER S RESPONSE

2 Comments which the advertiser made in response to the complainant/s regarding this advertisement include the following: Background to lululemon lululemon is a designer and retailer of technical athletic apparel for yoga, running, working out and other athletic pursuits. Since our inception, we have pursued a mission to produce products which create transformational experiences for people to live happy, healthy, active and fun lives. In Australia, lululemon's products are available for sale to adult women and men. The products are not advertised to, or designed to fit, children. lululemon manifesto The advertisement the subject of this complaint is a poster displayed at the DFO Moorabin. This poster is the lululemon manifesto, which is a collection of statements intended to spark conversation for our customers on various subjects. The lululemon manifesto has been widely distributed, both in Australia and around the world. It has been displayed many millions of times globally, appearing online and in store displays, including at the DFO Moorabin store since December The manifesto has been displayed and distributed widely in Australia since approximately 2005 when our first stores opened in Australia. We currently have 27 stores and 3 factory outlets in Australia. The manifesto is displayed on many of our free shopping bags, in a small location and font size on the bag. Last year we distributed approximately 750,000 such shopping bags in Australia and New Zealand. To our knowledge, we have not received complaints about the phrase in the manifesto the subject of the complaint at the DFO Moorabin store; nor have we received any complaints about this phrase in the manifesto at any other Australian stores. Response to the complaint The complainant alleges that the phrase in the manifesto "children are the orgasm of life. just like you did not know what an orgasm was before you had one, you won't know how great children are until you have them" has breached the following sections of the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) Code of Ethics: Section 2.4 Advertising or Marketing Communications shall treat sex, sexuality and nudity with sensitivity to the relevant audience. Section 2.5 Advertising or Marketing Communications shall only use language which is appropriate in the circumstances (including appropriate for the relevant audience and medium). Strong or obscene language shall be avoided. For the reasons set out below, we disagree that the phrase within the manifesto breaches either of the above sections of the AANA Code of Ethics, or that it breaches any other relevant advertising code in Australia. Specifically:

3 1. The relevant audience for the poster is adult men and women and the manifesto is targeted to this demographic. Bearing this relevant audience in mind, the manifesto treats the issue of sex with appropriate sensitivity. As such, we do not consider that the manifesto offends prevailing community standards, nor do we consider that most members of the community would be offended by the meaning and spirit of the phrase. Whilst we agree that morality is subjective, we disagree that the phrase is shocking or offensive by prevailing community standards. 2. The language used is appropriate to the relevant audience (adult men and women) and the phrase does not contain any overt or highly sexualized material. It cannot be said that use of the word "orgasm" on its own is sufficient to warrant the poster as unacceptable. Furthermore, any sexual innuendo which may be implied is unlikely to be understood by children, particularly given the context in which the phrase appears, i.e. juxtaposed with themes of 'love', 'friends', 'happiness' etc. The words used in the poster which are the subject of the complaint are already in the public language, and we consider such usage to be acceptable by prevailing community standards. Given this, we disagree with the complainant that the language is offensive, or that the intent was to use the idea of children to "get a shock reaction from people". The manifesto was written with the best of intentions and is not intended to offend anyone. On the contrary, the objective of the manifesto is to promote thought-provoking ideas about key themes and values which are relevant to adults. 3. The context in which the phrase appears in the manifesto is important and should not be discounted. Specifically, the phrase is one of many thought-provoking and conversationpromoting phrases in the manifesto. It is displayed in a small font, at the bottom of the poster, and is not highlighted, circled, underlined or bolded in comparison to other phrases in the same manner. In some respects, one may argue that the phrase is difficult to read and requires the customer to pay specific attention to it in order to understand it. As such, we consider that some adults may not even notice the phrase, let alone any child, unless specific attention was drawn to it. The phrase is not a key message in the manifesto. 4. The poster is not directed "primarily at children" and therefore the AANA Code of Advertising and Marketing Communications to Children does not apply. As we have mentioned, lululemon's target audience is adult men and women. Even though the poster may be seen by a child, the manifesto is not targeted to children nor do we consider that it has principal appeal to children, particularly given the nature of the products sold by lululemon in Australia. Further, as mentioned above, we do not consider that the language used in the phrase, let alone the advertisement itself, is that which can be easily comprehended by children. In addition to the above matters, we refer the Advertising Standards Board to the previous decisions of the Board in case numbers 0110/15, 0385/12, 201/00, 51/09, 286/03 and 76/07 where complaints in respect of similar sections of the AANA Code of Ethics were dismissed. Whilst we appreciate that every case must be assessed in its own context, we respectfully submit that the advertisements the subject of these previous complaints contained arguably more sensitive and controversial material than the subject matter of this complaint. For the reasons set out above, we respectfully request that the complaint be dismissed.

4 THE DETERMINATION The Advertising Standards Board ( Board ) considered whether this advertisement breaches Section 2 of the Advertiser Code of Ethics (the Code ). The Board noted the complainant s concerns that this advertisement features explicit sexualised language which is offensive and not appropriate for children to view. The Board viewed the advertisement and noted the advertiser s response. The Board considered whether the advertisement was in breach of Section 2.4 of the Code. Section 2.4 of the Code states: Advertising or Marketing Communications shall treat sex, sexuality and nudity with sensitivity to the relevant audience. The Board noted that this poster advertisement in the store window of lululemon features lots of quotes including one which reads, children are the orgasm of life. The Board noted it had previously upheld an advertisement which used the word orgasm in case 0555/14 where: The Board noted that the text on the van reads: women fake orgasms because they think men care The Board noted the advertisement uses the term, orgasm and considered that this clear reference to a sex related topic is not appropriate for the back of a mobile van which is viewable by a broad audience The Board noted the current advertisement is a poster filled with many quotes in different font styles and sizes. The Board noted the quote under complaint is relatively small and considered that it does not catch the reader s eye or stand out in any manner. The Board acknowledged that some members of the community would prefer that sexual words such as orgasm were not displayed in public but considered that unlike in the previous upheld case, 0555/14, where the word orgasm was written clearly on the back of a van in the context of a demeaning message about women, the current advertisement uses the word orgasm in the context of a positive message and its location on the bottom of a large poster filled with text means it does not stand out. The Board considered that the style and layout of the poster, with a jumbled array of text sizes, fonts and direction and no images or pictures, would not be of strong interest or appeal to children. Overall the Board considered that the advertisement did treat the issue of sex, sexuality and nudity with sensitivity to the relevant broad audience which would include children. The Board determined that the advertisement did not breach Section 2.4 of the Code. The Board considered whether the advertisement was in breach of Section 2.5 of the Code. Section 2.5 of the Code states: Advertising or Marketing Communications shall only use language which is appropriate in the circumstances (including appropriate for the relevant audience and medium). Strong or obscene language shall be avoided. The Board noted the use of the word orgasm in the advertisement.

5 The Board noted that it had previously considered that the term orgasm is understood to mean the climax of sexual excitement and does not carry a hidden meaning or double entendre (0555/14). The Board noted that the word orgasm is the correct word for the sexual act and considered that its use in the current advertisement is in the context of a positive statement that contains no other sexualised language. The Board noted the placement of the advertisement in a store window and considered that the relevant audience would be broad and would include children. However, the Board noted the size of the text used in the reference to children being the orgasm of life is small compared to the numerous other statements depicted in the advertisement and considered that the word orgasm in this context is very low impact. The Board noted that lululemon s target market is adult women and considered that a poster full of text in their store window is unlikely to attract the attention of the average shopper enough for them to want to read each statement and given the text-heavy nature of the advertisement it is unlikely that children would read the advertisement. The Board considered that the language used in the advertisement was not strong or obscene and was appropriate in the circumstances. The Board determined that the advertisement did not breach Section 2.5 of the Code. Finding that the advertisement did not breach the Code on other grounds, the Board dismissed the complaint.