A poster depicting Demi Lovato wearing a bondage-style attire and lying on a bed shaped like a crucifix has been banned for offending Christians.
The UK’s advertising watchdog determined that the title of the singer’s latest album plainly related to a swear word and, in conjunction with the artwork, linked sexuality to a religious symbol.
Polydor Records stated that the artwork was created to promote the album and that it was not insulting.
The poster was met with four complaints. It was removed four days later.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) stated that it has received complaints about the image of Demi Lovato shackled in a bondage-style attire while resting on a crucifix-shaped mattress.
The singer was “in a posture with her legs chained to one side, resembling Christ on the cross,” according to the report.
In conjunction with the album title, which is a play on words, the ASA determined that the poster was “likely to be interpreted as associating sexuality with the sacred emblem of the cross and the crucifixion.” It was stated that this would undoubtedly cause great offense to Christians.
The eighth album by Demi Lovato, to be released in August 2022, will highlight her difficult journey through alcohol and drug addiction, mental health concerns, treatment, and recovery.
She began writing it in December 2021, following a voluntary period in treatment, and told the BBC,
“I’m no longer playing pop music; this is a rock album.”
The singer is hardly the first to incite religious debate. When the Like a Prayer video was released by Madonna in 1989, Christian organizations attacked it as blasphemous.
It depicted the singer dancing around burning crosses and kissing a Christ-like black figure inside a church. Her Erotica video led to her exclusion from the Vatican in 1992, and the video could only be viewed in the early morning hours.
Also, the ASA received concerns that the poster advertising Demi Lovato’s record was positioned carelessly where children may view it.
It was shown in six locations across London before being removed on August 23, 2022.
The ASA determined that it was obvious to most readers that the album’s title related to an offensive word.
Given the poster was displayed in a public location where minors were likely to view it, the ASA “thought that the advertisement was likely to cause serious and widespread offence and had been targeted inappropriately.”
Before publishing, Polydor Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Ltd., confirmed with agency Brotherhood Media that the poster may run on the requested locations.
Polydor had proceeded on the basis of the agency’s guarantee that this was the case, the company stated.
Brotherhood Media has been contacted by the BBC for comment.
The ASA determined that the poster may not reappear in its original form unless it was appropriately targeted. It instructed Universal Music Operations Ltd to guarantee that advertisements in the future do not cause serious or widespread offense.
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