This Urban Outfitters Model Photo Was Banned Because of a Too-Wide Thigh Gap

Britain's Ad Standards Authority has delivered the first body-image smackdown to an advertiser in 2015 by banning an Urban Outfitters photo of a model whose thigh gap looked too wide.

The ASA justified the ban, which reportedly came after one complaint about the "polka dot mesh briefs" photo in question, by saying a "noticeably underweight model was likely to impress upon that audience that the image was representative of the people who might wear Urban Outfitters' clothing, and as being something to aspire to." It decided from there that "the ad was irresponsible."

Perhaps, being English, they're so used to hearing "mind the gap" as they board the train that it's poisoned their thinking on other issues. Anyway, Urban Outfitters quickly replaced the photo with a less gappy one, so I guess it's all resolved.