--- title: Yves Saint Laurent Ad Featuring 'Underweight' Model Is Banned description: An ad in Elle magazine was banned by UK's advertising watchdog for featuring a too-thin model. canonical: https://time.com/3906859/yves-saint-laurent-ad-underweight-model/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-03T12:00:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:45:17.201Z og:title: Yves Saint Laurent Ad Featuring 'Underweight' Model Is Banned og:description: The model was too skinny og:url: https://time.com/3906859/yves-saint-laurent-ad-underweight-model/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Yves Saint Laurent Ad Featuring 'Underweight' Model Is Banned twitter:description: The model was too skinny twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Yves Saint Laurent Ad Featuring 'Underweight' Model Is Banned > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Naomi Campbell: "Racist" Runways Need to End [Watch (HLS stream): Naomi Campbell: "Racist" Runways Need to End](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/X5dXp9wu.m3u8) (2:50)  _Published 2013-09-17. As part of the Diversity Coalition, Campbell speaks out about the lack of diversity on major designer runways_ by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Jun 3, 2015 12:00 PM UTC by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Jun 3, 2015 12:00 PM UTC The U.K.’s advertising authority has [banned](https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2015/6/Yves-Saint-Laurent-SAS/SHP%5FADJ%5F292161.aspx#.VW7r%5FkgZJU9) an Yves Saint Laurent ad for using a model who appears in the photo to be unhealthily thin. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint that the model looked too underweight in her ad in _Elle_ magazine, according to the[ authority’s website](https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2015/6/Yves-Saint-Laurent-SAS/SHP%5FADJ%5F292161.aspx#.VW7r%5FkgZJU9). In its ruling, the ASA said the lighting effect in the ad drew attention to the model’s visible rib cage, and her legs, “where her thighs and knees appeared a similar width.” > [](https://twitter.com/PA/status/605960732115533824) Advertisers who use skinny models have come under fire for what critics say promotes unrealistic standards for women. Urban Outfitters and Drop Dead are two clothing outfitters that have been forced to remove promotional photos of skinny models, [_The Guardian_ reported](http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jun/03/yves-saint-laurent-ad-ban-underweight-model). Yves Saint Laurent and _Elle_ declined to comment to _The Guardian._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3906859/yves-saint-laurent-ad-underweight-model/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3906859/yves-saint-laurent-ad-underweight-model/"},"headline":"Yves Saint Laurent Ad Featuring 'Underweight' Model Is Banned","datePublished":"2015-06-03T12:00:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:45:17.201Z","description":"Ads that use skinny models are coming under fire","url":"https://time.com/3906859/yves-saint-laurent-ad-underweight-model/","keywords":["Living","fashion"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3906859/yves-saint-laurent-ad-underweight-model/","name":"Yves Saint Laurent Ad Featuring 'Underweight' Model Is Banned"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Naomi Campbell: \"Racist\" Runways Need to End","description":"As part of the Diversity Coalition, Campbell speaks out about the lack of diversity on major designer runways","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/X5dXp9wu/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-09-17T18:23:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/X5dXp9wu.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3906859/yves-saint-laurent-ad-underweight-model/","duration":"PT2M50S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3906859/yves-saint-laurent-ad-underweight-model/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```