Zara’s latest campaign, intended to showcase chic minimalism, quickly turned controversial when the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) deemed two of its ads “socially irresponsible.” The images, one featuring a model in an oversized white shirt (£39.99) with sharply visible collarbones, the other a short white dress (£25.99) emphasizing gaunt limbs, were ruled to project an unhealthy body ideal.
The ASA flagged how strategic use of lighting, shadows, and body positioning accentuated the models’ brittleness. In the shirt ad, a low neckline and arm placement turned the collarbone into the focal point, while in the dress ad, lighting made the legs appear overly thin, and a slicked-back hairstyle amplified the model’s gaunt facial features.
Zara responded swiftly removed the questioned visuals across its website and app, even those not officially banned and cited adherence to a UK model-health framework requiring medical certification attesting to a model's wellbeing.
This ruling isn’t Zara’s first trip to the taste police. In recent months, the ASA also clamped down on ads from Marks & Spencer and Next for similar thinness-related red flags. Meanwhile, broader fashion-watch efforts sparked partly by concerns over ultra-thin trends fueled by social media and weight-loss drugs continue to grow louder.
What’s crystal clear? Regulators are tightening the lens on advertising standards, demanding responsibility in how bodies are portrayed especially in an industry where looks define messaging.
