Sarah Ashcroft: Breast enlargement surgery advert featuring That Pommie Girl blogger banned

In the advert, Ashcroft discussed her own surgery and the positive impact she felt it had on her personal life

Sarah Ashcroft aka That Pommie Girl (REX Features)

An advert for a cosmetic surgery company featuring YouTube star Sarah Ashcroft has been banned and deemed “irresponsible and likely to cause harm to those under 18”.

The advert from the company Transform, which was shown on television in April, shows Ashcroft - who often goes by her social media alias That Pommie Girl’ - discussing her own breast enlargement surgery and the positive impact she feels it had on her life.

In the advert, the fashion blogger says: “I feel like a new person from having nothing to then looking at yourself with boobs.

"It was the weirdest thing because then everyone was like ‘wow, they look so natural I’m so impressed’. And to come away from it feeling 10 times more confident than you were I think is just an amazing feeling.”

But the Advertising Standards Authority say they received a complaint from someone who “believed the ad exploited young women’s insecurities about their bodies by implying that breast-enhancement surgery would make them more confident and popular”.

The complainant also challenged whether the advert was harmful and irresponsible to under 18s.

After deliberation, the regulatory body upheld the complaint and ruled that it breached the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) codes of social responsibility and harm and offence and ordered: “The ad must not appear again in its current form”.

In its ruling, which was released on Wednesday, the body said: “We were concerned that the focus on the negative perception she [Ashcroft] had of her own body prior to cosmetic surgery might encourage viewers, particularly young women and teenage girls, to think about their own insecurities about their bodies.”

The body said it appreciated Ashcroft was discussing her own personal experience and did not equate her own popularity - she has over 546,000 followers on Instagram and almost 55,000 subscribers on Youtube - to her surgery.

The ruling stated: “We considered that viewers would nevertheless infer from Ms Ashcroft’s emphasis on her personal transformation and the degree of confidence she said she had gained that her popularity and success as a fashion blogger had been, in part, a result of cosmetic surgery.

“Although Ms Ashcroft’s was a personal story, we considered that the ad suggested more generally that success and popularity would be enhanced by achieving an idealised body image, which could be done by ‘correcting’ any perceived imperfections.

“In light of those factors, we concluded that the ad was irresponsible and likely to cause harm to under 18s."

In response, Transform expressed its “surprise” at the ASA’s ruling, but said it respected the decision and that the advert would not run again.

The company said Ashcroft underwent and paid for her own procedure before agreeing to do the advert and said her words in the advert were her own.

It also claimed they took measures to ensure the advert complied with advertising regulation ahead of its release.

“The advert featured Sarah Ashcroft (21) who tells her own story in her own words. Sarah is typical of many independent, thoughtful and responsible females who chose to have cosmetic surgery. There is no inference in the advert that her popularity is linked to her breast size,” the firm said in a statement.

The firm also proposed that cosmetic surgery in general was a “polarising” topic.

“Rightly or wrongly, cosmetic surgery polarises opinion and we acknowledge there will always be parts of society who will object to it," the statement said.

"However, Transform strives to ensure a sense of responsibility is maintained at all times and has been leading a sea change in the ethical marketing of the sector.”

The company also said it does not consult with or operate on under 18s and carried a large “18+” disclaimer on its advert.

A representative for Ashcroft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.