Ad World: Laundry detergent billboard in Indonesia removed for bra and panties depiction

A billboard in Pekalongan after the removal of a controversial ad for laundry detergent that depicted a bra and panties. Photo: Pekalongan Regency
A billboard in Pekalongan after the removal of a controversial ad for laundry detergent that depicted a bra and panties. Photo: Pekalongan Regency

You’re driving down the road when you spot a billboard for laundry detergent. As you approach the giant advertising structure, you see that it depicts a red bra and pink panties being hanged to dry. You are distracted. You are enraged.

That is apparently how people in Pekalongan Regency, Central Java reacted to a billboard ad, leading to its removal.

The image above is what the billboard looks like after the laundry detergent ad’s removal. Thanks to Detik, who managed to take a snap of the ad before it was gone, we can show you what the undergarment fuss was all about:

Candra Saputra, a member of the Pekalongan Regional Council (DPRD) representing the Islamic-based National Mandate Party (PAN), said he received complaints from residents over the ad.

“Locals thought that the picture of the panties and bra was disrespectful and incompatible with Pekalongan Regency, which is known as a santri (religious school students) town,” he said.

“I took a look and indeed it was inappropriate. The ad was not educational, and instead it could have distracted drivers’ concentration.”

The Pekalongan Regency administration, spurred by the complaints from the public as represented by Candra, eventually pulled down the billboard on grounds of advertising permit violation.

Also Read – ‘Vulgar’ Shopee ad featuring K-Pop group BLACKPINK ordered off Indonesian TV by KPI



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