Steel Panther’s ‘Balls Out’ Campaign Banned

The poster for Steel Panther’s third album ‘Balls Out’ has been banned by UK advertising authorities after they deemed it to be “overtly sexual”. The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) deemed the advert (above), which ran outdoors throughout October and November and featured a photo of a woman wearing a revealing outfit above the words “balls out”, to be unsuitable for public display. ASA told Campaign Magazine that the advertisment had attracted a number of complaints, including one from Imkaan, a charity which represents women from ethnic backgrounds who have been victims of abuse and violence.

The band’s label Universal Records told ASA that, while they could have taken more care in choosing which poster spots they opted for, the adverts were not meant to cause offence and were intended to tie in with the band’s “ludicrously over the top” persona. The label also denied that the poster was offensive to women. The ASA however ruled that the advertisement was likely “to cause serious and widespread offence”, and was unsuitable to seen by children. They also said that the poster would be seen as “overtly sexual” by most of who saw it.

Steel Panther tour the UK this spring, playing four dates in March. The shows begin at Birmingham’s O2 Academy on March 27 and run until March 31, when the band headline London’s O2 Academy Brixton. These gigs will be the band’s largest UK headline shows to date.