Sir, - Having worked in the advertising industry for many years, I have to agree with the complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority about the recent Coke advertisement showing a naked lady holding a bottle/can of Diet Coke. Not because she is naked but because I thought that the days of selling a product by draping a naked woman over the bonnet were long since gone.
I have noticed a trend lately in advertisements in which men are made out to be stupid or where derogatory remarks are made about their bodies - e.g. the TV ad for washing powder featuring a man wearing only boxer shorts asking which programme on the washing machine to use. His wife and female friend snigger and say: "small load should do it". Again, my objection to this form of advertising is that it lowers the standards that the advertising industry has spent years building up. It is also unfair to men. Maybe John Waters can do a piece on it! - Yours, etc.,
Helen Kearney, Athgoe Drive, Shankill, Co Dublin.