KEY POINTS:
A young fashion designer has been criticised for a poster featuring a scantily clad schoolgirl being sexually assaulted while she snorted cocaine.
The Advertising Standards Authority decided the image was an "inappropriate" and "gratuitous" attempt to attract attention.
It upheld two complaints about the poster, which was on a wall near a pedestrian crossing and primary and intermediate schools in Auckland's Royal Oak.
A headline read: "The fashion industry: Lining up the kids."
A disclaimer in fine print said the ad was designed to bring awareness to the industry's use of "young children" as models.
In a written defence statement, Lucie Boshier, 25, made no apology for the image. She said parts of the industry were "neither glamorous nor empowering" and she had decided to challenge its traditions. "I am on a mission to make a positive impact through the fashion industry and I'm having a lot of fun doing it. We do not regret our poster."
The authority said the public would not be aware of "any attempted subtlety" and the advert had not been prepared with "a due sense of social responsibility'.
