Richmond star Dustin Martin and lingerie model Maia Cotton face row over sexy sleepwear ad
Too sexy, too suggestive? A cheeky sleepwear ad starring Richmond star Dustin Martin and a Victoria’s Secret bombshell has come under fire for being “degrading to women” and “wrong on so many levels”. WATCH THE VIDEO
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A cheeky sleepwear commercial featuring Richmond superstar Dustin Martin waking up next to a Victoria’s Secret bombshell has been investigated after an outcry that it was too sexy and too suggestive.
The Tiger champion, an ambassador for clothing brand Bonds, appeared in the clever campaign in March for the company’s ComfyLivin’ sleepwear range alongside international lingerie model Maia Cotton.
The pair are seen emerging from the sheets as a doorbell rings and, in a scene inspired by the famous film Notting Hill, Martin opens the door to find a horde of reporters outside.
Nonplussed, he closes the door and tells Cotton the visitors are for her.
In a complaint filed with Ad Standards, the advertisement is described as “degrading” and “just wrong on so many levels”.
“What I found offensive about this advertisement was that in the morning when the doorbell rings and Dustin Martin answers it to find reporters who ask ‘so how was your night?’, it implies that the reporters want feedback on how her night was after spending the night with Dustin Martin,” the complainant wrote.
“It’s degrading to women and portrays women who spend the night with men and in this case a football player as a butt of a joke and suggests that he has provided her with a good night.”
Hanes Brands, Bonds’ parent company, stood by the lighthearted play on words.
Following an investigation the Ad Standards Community Panel found the tone of the ad to be cheeky rather than suggestive and that Cotton was not being humiliated or ridiculed.
MORE: WHAT DID BOOTED FOOTY FAN REALLY SAY?
In dismissing the complaint, the panel said the ad had not breached the advertising Code of Ethics.
Martin’s deal with Bonds has seen him appear in some highly entertaining video campaigns, notably with a cute dog named Killer and a tiger that could have done some serious damage if it had given him a love bite.
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