The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2025
Zara's UK site showed two models the ASA deemed 'unhealthily thin' — ads were banned
Zara said the models were medically certified healthy, but the ASA ruled the styling, shadows and poses made them look gaunt.
Zara · 2025-05
What happened
In May 2025, four product images on Zara's UK website caught the attention of the Advertising Standards Authority. Two featured models whose collarbones, limbs and faces were styled and lit in ways the ASA said made them appear 'unhealthily thin' — one with a low-cut shirt drawing attention to protruding collarbones, the other with shadows emphasising thin legs and a slicked-back bun making her face look gaunt.
Zara responded that both models were medically certified as healthy and that only minor retouching had been applied. The ASA did not dispute their health but ruled that the styling, lighting and poses breached social responsibility rules because the overall impression was irresponsible.
The ads were banned from appearing again in their current form. The ruling added Zara to a growing list of fashion retailers pulled up by the UK watchdog for promoting extreme thinness, showing that how a model is presented can be regulated as strictly as the product being sold.
Why it happened
- The styling choices — low necklines, slicked-back hair and harsh shadows — drew attention to the models' slenderness rather than the clothes.
- Zara relied on a medical certificate of health rather than considering how the final image would look to consumers.
- The images were uploaded to the UK site without a review step that compared them against the ASA's body-image code.
- The fast-fashion model of rapid image turnover leaves little time for compliance checks on every product photo.
The lesson
A model's medical fitness does not exempt an ad from responsibility — presentation, lighting and styling create the impression the regulator reads.
Aftermath
Zara removed the images. The ASA ruling is public and joins precedents involving Marks & Spencer, Next and other fashion retailers.
Sources
- ASA Ruling on ITX UK Ltd t/a Zara
- UK watchdog bans Zara ads for featuring 'unhealthily thin' models — Marketing-Interactive
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