Ghanda clothing company 'sexualised ads' cleared

Geelong-based brand Ghanda, a surf clothing company, was called out in June by advocacy group Collective Shout, for their Summer 2026 catalogue - but the Ad Standards Community Panel has today cleared it with respect to the ‘Cassie Bikini’, pictured below.

In its report, Ad Standards explained that the complaint claimed the ad “featured models posing a sexually provocative way.” The complaint argued that the advertiser's audience is children.

However, the Ad Standards Panel did not agree.

It said today, “The Panel found that the ad did not breach Section 2.2 of the AANA Code of Ethics, as the ad did not feature sexual appeal in a manner that was exploitative or degrading.”

The Panel also found that the ad did not breach Section 2.4 of the AANA Code of Ethics, as “it did not depict sex, sexuality or nudity in a manner that would be considered insensitive to the relevant audience.”

The Panel considered that the ad did not feature close-up shots of inappropriate parts of the model’s anatomy and did not appear to present the model as a commodity or suggest that she was only present for the enjoyment of others. The Panel accepted that the model appeared young but was not concerned that the model appeared to be a minor.

The report added that considering the brand sold bikinis, it was not unreasonable of the models to wear the items.

The report concluded the ad did not breach any other section of the relevant advertising codes.

What happened with Ghanda clothing?

Collective Shout's advocate Caitlin Roper posted to the group's website in June:

"Stop sexualising women and girls: Our letter to Ghanda Clothing.

"In June, a supporter alerted us to sexualised depictions of young women and girls in a catalogue by Ghanda Clothing – a clothing brand popular with teens.

"The Ghanda Surfco Summer 2026 catalogue depicted young women and girls in sexually suggestive poses e.g. legs spread.

"On 26 June, we wrote to the Ghanda Clothing’s Founder, Josh Rudd, to share our concerns, asking him to commit to not sexualising and objectifying women and girls in the company’s advertising.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Ghanda Clothing (@ghandaclothing)

Ghanda clothing told The Daily Telegraph at the time that the catalogue reflects “our surf-and-swim lifestyle that’s central to the brand”, adding that the imagery work was performed by a female-led photo shoot team.

“The posing referenced in the complaint was not directed by the brand but reflected the model’s individual and professional modelling style," a spokesperson said.

They added that “an internal review by a female team found the material was not offensive and Ad Standards Australia had cleared the campaign.”

However, that later turned out to be untrue.

In September, the Daily Telegraph reported: “This morning we can now reveal that Ad Standards did not clear the material and denies that Ghanda ever sought advice from the watchdog about the catalogue.”