Billboard-sized porn adverts could soon become familiar sights after advertising standards bosses gave the green light to an OnlyFans star displaying two huge posters.
Despite protests from furious residents and the local MP, the controversial ad featuring adult model Eliza Rose Watson posing in her bra failed to attract any sanction.
The huge billboards featured the influencer alongside the logos for Instagram and OnlyFans – an online platform that allows users to share their homemade adult content to paying subscribers.
The posters were seen in Harrow and Edgware, in northwest London and another in Norwood, southeast London. One outraged local graffitied the OnlyFans advert in North Harrow, with the message “keep porn off our streets”.
Harrow West MP Gareth Thomas said he wrote to the Advertising Standards Authority after being made aware that children passed the giant ad on their way to school.
Former pre-school teacher Ms Watson, 34, makes £180,000-a-month from her raunchy online work which people pay for to view live.
The Advertising Standards Authority had complaints arguing that as OnlyFans featured sexual content it was inappropriate for the display to be where children could see it.
Some of the complaints also claimed the poster was overly sexualised and objectified women, making it offensive, harmful and irresponsible.
However, the ASA did not uphold the complaints about the billboards which went up in June and July.
Ms Watson, who said she paid for four adverts in London and two in New York, added that if a child or young adult recognised the OnlyFans logo then it was a “wider issue” because such content is widespread online.
She added the advert had been tailored to “avoid offensiveness to mature viewers and intrigue to the younger generation”.
Amplify Outdoor, the owner of the poster sites, said none of the ads were displayed within 100 metres of a school, with the closest being 450 metres from the nearest school.
Clearing the ads, the ASA said that although Watson’s clothing was revealing, the image did not feature any nudity and the pose adopted by her was “no more than mildly sexual”.
Harrow resident Alex Mitchell was one of those upset by the poster.
He said: “I’ve got no issues with people following a career, if it’s legal. But I think advertising issues like what’s on the poster behind me when you’re close to local schools – you’ve got a primary school up the end of this road, you’ve got a secondary school there – young people are impressionable, and it’s completely out of order.”
Fellow resident Pushpa added: “It’s very suggestive and it’s very distracting, I would say, for other drivers going around and pedestrians.
“I wouldn’t want it here because it’s not relevant to this kind of area, to any area.”
But ruling no further action was necessary The ASA said: “While we acknowledged that the image of Ms Watson and reference to OnlyFans might be distasteful to some, we considered the ad was not overtly sexual and did not objectify women.
“We therefore concluded it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.”
