UK fashion label Jaded London loved by Taylor Swift and Beyonce has advert banned for glamourising smoking
British fashion brand Jaded London, favoured by celebrities including Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Kylie Jenner, has had one of its adverts banned after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled it glamourised smoking. The advert, part of an email marketing campaign, showed a model in a pink backless minidress posing beside a Vespa-style scooter while appearing to hold a lit cigarette. The ban highlights how advertising regulators continue to scrutinise fashion imagery for indirect promotion of smoking, even when cigarettes are not the product being sold.
The campaign was sent to subscribers at the end of May to promote the label's "Lola" summerwear range. It prompted a complaint from a member of the public, who flagged the cigarette in the image, and the ASA subsequently investigated and upheld the complaint, finding the advert breached its rules against glamourising smoking.
- Jaded London's advert banned by ASA for glamourising smoking
- Brand is popular with Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Kylie Jenner
- Model was seen holding a lit cigarette in a promo email
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Advertising regulators and public health advocates argue that depicting cigarettes as a stylish accessory in a fashion advert normalises and glamorises smoking, particularly for younger audiences who follow celebrity-adjacent brands, and that existing rules exist precisely to stop imagery which links tobacco use with glamour, success or sex appeal. They would say enforcement is not about censoring artistic expression but about protecting public health gains built over decades against smoking's normalisation, and that brands with cultural cachet carry a heightened responsibility given their reach among impressionable consumers.
The case against
Jaded London and free-expression advocates could reasonably argue that a single stylised image of a woman holding a cigarette is a common visual motif in fashion and film, not a promotion of smoking or a tobacco advertisement, and that treating any incidental depiction of a cigarette as glamorisation risks an overly broad and paternalistic reading of advertising rules. They would contend that adult consumers of fashion imagery are capable of distinguishing aesthetic styling from a health message, and that brands should retain creative latitude to reference the imagery and iconography they draw on, including eras or subcultures where smoking was culturally prevalent.