Urban Outfitters Controversy Continues With Image Of ‘Underweight’ Model For Underwear Ad After ‘Eat Less’ Shirt Backlash

The controversy surrounding Urban Outfitters continues.

The clothing company was reportedly accused of promoting the “inner thigh gap,” a term used to describe the space between a woman’s thighs, as the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority forced Urban Outfitters to remove an image of a model with an “unhealthy” gap, according to Fox News.

“We understood that Urban Outfitters’ target market was young people and considered that using a noticeably underweight model was likely to impress upon that audience that the image was representative of the people who might wear Urban Outfitters’ clothing, and as being something to aspire to,” the ASA said on their website.

They added, “We therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible.”

Although Urban Outfitters switched out the image due to the controversy, the clothing brand reportedly didn’t agree with the ASA’s opinion regarding their model.

“They did not believe she was underweight and provided a copy of her agency profile, other photographs of the model and a list of clients for whom she had posed," the ASA stated.

The ASA continued, “They stated that her waist size was 23.5 inches, and provided documentation from outerwear brands showing they provided clothing for that waist size. They added that it was common practice to use slim models in the underwear industry, but they did not consider that the model was underweight or unhealthily thin; they considered she had a naturally tall and slim physique.”

To add to the recent controversy, Urban Outfitters reportedly claimed that the model had a healthy waist measurement of 23.5 inches, according to TIME.

The recent backlash comes after the controversy surrounding the brand’s “Eat Less” shirts, which was pulled from the store’s website in June 2010.