Shop displays

The complainant was concerned it was inappropriate for minors to see sex toys and images of bondage in a shop window, the ASA said. But, it said, the advertiser removed the bondage products after he received the complaint.

‘‘The Complaints Board did not uphold a complaint about the display of sex toys ... because the presentation of the toys in the shop window display was not sexually explicit and was not likely to cause serious or widespread offence.’’

Low held a protest outside the shop with her children when the store owner initially refused to remove the items. She told Stuff in January: ‘‘I go through efforts to put safety filters on my children’s devices … and I can’t stop them from looking at this stuff on the street corner.’’ Low said the owner of the store cited ‘‘free speech’’ but she said: ‘‘It is not OK to teach innocent children that it is OK for women to be tied up for sex.’’

The ASA is funded by companies and industry associations, including the Newspaper Publishers Association, of which Stuff is a member.

The Advertising Code states: ‘‘Advertisements must not contain anything that is indecent, or exploitative, or degrading, or likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offence, or give rise to hostility, contempt, abuse or ridicule.’’ It also says: ‘‘Sexual imagery or language must be appropriate to the audience and medium’’ and adverts ‘‘must be prepared and placed with a due sense of social responsibility to consumers and to society’’.