Ad Watch

In 2025, Sanex ran a TV ad for shower gel that showed a Black woman’s cracked, itchy skin as the “before” and a white woman’s smooth, hydrated skin as the “after”. The tagline promised that “relief could be as simple as a shower”.

We have been chasing youth for centuries. From legends of the fountain of youth to billion-pound industries built on the promise of turning back time, the obsession never went away. It only changed form. Today, it is bottled in “anti-ageing” creams, filtered selfies, and airbrushed campaigns that teach us that growing older is a problem to fix.

In 2025, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned a Next product image for portraying an “unhealthily thin” model. The image showed a model sitting on a wooden block, legs stretched toward the camera, wearing black leggings and heels. The low camera angle elongated her legs, and the tight fit emphasised their slimness.

In 2025, the ASA banned a Marks & Spencer ad for portraying what it called an “unhealthily thin” model. On paper, it was a simple clothing shot. In practice, it was a visual gamble — and the regulator ruled that gamble crossed the line.