A strip club advert showing a naked woman's torso remains in place despite being banned last week.

Fillies at Stir, on East Street, Epsom, was informed of the ban on its billboard poster in an adjudication by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on May 2.

The poster, displayed on Morden Road, opposite South Wimbledon tube station, includes the image of a woman’s body in a reclined position with the lower part of her breast exposed.

It also included the club’s logo - a silhouette of a woman - and the slogan ‘Join the Fillies girls at Stir’.

The ASA received six complaints from members of the public that the advert was likely to cause serious or widespread offence, particularly to those at whom it was not targeted, because it was degrading, objectified women and was overtly sexual.

Complainants also said it was unsuitable to be shown near a primary school.

The ASA ruled that the advert "should not appear again in its current form", but, at the time of going to press, it remained in place.

Speaking after the adjudication, Damon Wellman, director at Fillies at Stir, who described the model as "gender neutral", said: "There are no plans for more billboard adverts and that poster was due to come down soon anyway due to building work on the site.

"But the ASA did not ask us to take it down which is bizarre."

But an ASA spokeswoman said: "'The ad should not appear again in its current form' means that it needs to be amended or must come down immediately.

"But we allow some leeway for advertisements to be taken down.

"If the advertisement stays up beyond this leeway, this would be a problem which would be referred to our compliance team.

"We are aware that this advertisement is still up."

In response to the complaints made to the ASA, Fillies denied the advert was offensive.

It said it had used the same logo for three years and had received no complaints.

The advert only appeared in one location, it contested, within the boundaries of a pub car park and was not in close proximity to a school or residential area.

Mr Wellman said the advert had gone on display in October last year and he was only contacted by the ASA with a complaint in February.

He said: "This was the second time the advert had been run at that location. It was run for four to five months in 2010 and no complaints were made.

"Approximately three thousand people a day see the advert because of its location, so over a period of six to seven months, the percentage of complaints has been minimal."

He added: "Being offended is very subjective. There is the classic thing of ‘sex sells’ but if you look at the Marks and Spencers underwear advertisements they are provocative.

"If something offends me I don’t look at it. But I accept the ASA’s decision."

In its adjudication, the ASA said it noted the image used in the advert was relevant to an adult entertainment venue, but upheld the complaints.

It said: "We considered the ad presented the model as a sexual object and considered that, particularly in conjunction with the references to ‘fillies’ it was likely to be seen as objectifying women and demeaning them.

"We considered the model's pose and dress were sexually provocative and had the effect of making the model appear sexually available."

It added: "We understood the ad was placed outside a station and approximately 0.2 miles from a primary school. We considered it overtly sexual and therefore unsuitable to appear where it could be seen by children."

Mr Wellman said it was "ironic" the adjudication has increased the publicity given to the advert.

He said: "The advert has now been in the local and national newspapers and on the BBC.

"Ironically, all the ASA has managed to do is publicise the advert massively. We don’t have a publicity or marketing agent as we’re not big enough. From our point of view, this is more advertising."

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