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AN advertisement for the LA beach drama, Baywatch, has fallen short of standards expected by British authorities. The ad, which appeared in Marketing Week and offered airtime to potential advertisers, featured a photograph of the crotch area of a woman wearing a swimming costume accompanied by the headline: 'VITAL COVERAGE All Part of the LWT Experience'. The Advertising Standards Authority considered a less offensive photograph could have been used and asked the makers of the advertisement, FCB TCB, to take greater care in future.

Helen Bell, Managing Director of FCB TCB, said: 'The account group here is female and none of us felt there was any offence in it. And the target audience was the media and advertising industry, which tends to be less prone to seriousness over such matters.'

Baywatch itself has a tainted history. The Broadcasting Standards Council has twice upheld complaints about the programme: once for a scene that showed violence against a woman, and once for an episode in which the portrayal of women was deemed offensively stereotypical.

(Photograph omitted)