Gedling council orders removal of naked woman shower poster

The poster has been reported to the Advertising Standards Authority

A council has ordered a shop owner to take down a life-size poster of a naked woman showering, put up on a main road.

The picture was put on the side of a bathroom store on Arnot Hill Road in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, two weeks ago.

Gedling Borough Council said it had reported it to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and told the shop owner to remove it.

But the owner of the shop, Sam Collins, defended the image.

Mr Collins said the image was no worse than what could be seen on TV or social media and was "quite harmless fun".

"It's just a lady taking a shower," he said. "There's nothing rude and she's not really baring anything.

"Seeing how stressful life is at the moment, we thought people could laugh and smile about it."

He said the council had asked him to take it down while the planning team looked into it but he hoped to leave it up.

The poster occupies a prominent position on a busy road through Arnold

However, some Arnold shoppers felt the image was not in good taste.

Elizabeth Clarke, 51, said: "That's just not appropriate. I suppose you can't see anything but there's kids walking past.

"Teenagers have enough to deal with with body image as it is."

Nicole Linford, who works in the women's-only Body-Tone gym on the same road, said people had complained to gym staff after wrongly assuming it was their advert.

She said: "They didn't have much positive to say about it. It's been controversial.

"I'm not offended by it... but I wouldn't choose it myself, and I can understand why people might not want it."

In July last year, another advert that was ruled inappropriate appeared in Nottingham

However, others said they were not offended.

Jacqualyn Lee, 76, said: "It's a show-stopper isn't it?

"I can just see people driving past not looking at the lights. But it doesn't offend me - I just wish I looked like that."

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Leader of Gedling Borough Council John Clarke said: "Unfortunately the owners of this particular hoarding did not apply for consent with the council.

"An officer from the council has visited the owner and instructed them to remove it as it does not have the required consent.

"The owner will be removing the advert as soon as possible."

A spokesman for the ASA said it was assessing the poster, and if it was found to have broken rules it could ask for it to be taken down.