A claim that a lingerie advert placed on buses that ran through Stamford Hill was "offensive" and "irresponsible" has been rejected by the advertisers' watchdog because there was "no explicit nudity".
Members of the strictly Orthodox community in North London complained that the Calvin Klein "Naked Glamour" lingerie advert, which appeared in buses at the start of November last year, should be removed.
But the Advertising Standards Authority said that while the five images of women wearing only underwear - including one where the model was wearing apparently sheer material - might appear "distasteful" to people with strongly held religious views, they did not represent a breach in standards.
The complainant, a member of the Charedi community, had highlighted that the display was offensive to those in the area "whose religious beliefs required them not to see images of women wearing only underwear".
They also said it was irresponsible to display the ad in untargeted media in public "as it would be seen by children".
The ASA said that the lack of explicit nudity, and the fact that the model was posed in lingerie because she was advertising an underwear range, meant that it was acceptable.
"The nature of the product meant that viewers of the ad were less likely to regard the ad as gratuitous or offensive, and noted that the poses of the model were natural.
"We considered that the ad might be viewed by some as mildly sexual in nature," they said. "However, although we recognised that some people with may find the ad distasteful, we did not consider that the ad was likely to cause widespread offence or serious offence to those with religious views."
The ASA said that even though an advert on public buses could be seen by children and could be construed as "mildly sexual in nature", it was not overtly so and therefore "was not socially irresponsible".
Last year a Marks &Spencer advert for women's underwear was placed beside a shop selling equipment for Succot in Edgware. After complaints from the shop manager the advert was replaced.
