An advert promoting Demi Lovato’s album ‘Holy Fvck’ has been banned in the UK for being likely to “cause serious offence to Christians”.
The pop rock star’s poster of her wearing “bondage” on a crucifix mattress for her latest LP has breached the code of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for “linking sexuality to the sacred symbol of the crucifix and the crucifixion.”
The ASA explained that Demi being “bound up in a bondage-style outfit whilst lying on a mattress shaped like a crucifix, in a position with her legs bound to one side which was reminiscent of Christ on the cross, together with the reference to ‘Holy Fvck’, which in that context was likely to be viewed as linking sexuality to the sacred symbol of the crucifix and the crucifixion, was likely to cause serious offence to Christians.”
It said: “We, therefore, concluded the ad breached the Code.”
The poster was erected in six locations across London last summer, and Polydor Records, a division of Universal Music, has insisted they were told it was fine to position them where they had and that no offence was intended.
Four complaints were received by the ASA, which said the posters were viewable to young eyes, Sky News reports.
The regulator said: “We told Universal Music Operations to ensure their ads did not cause serious or widespread offence in future.”
Demi, 30, came out as non-binary in 2021, however, she still uses she/her pronouns.
The former Disney star expressed a preference for gender-neutral they/them terms, but she is now “feeling more feminine” as she is “such a fluid person.”
Speaking on the ‘Spout’ podcast, Demi – who has both she/her and they/them listed in her Instagram biography – said: “Yeah, so, they/them is… I’ve actually adopted the pronouns of she/her again.
“For me, I’m such a fluid person that… I felt like, especially last year, my energy was balanced in my masculine and feminine energy so that when I was faced with the choice of walking into a bathroom and it said ‘women’ and ‘men,’
“I didn’t feel like there was a bathroom for me because I didn’t feel necessarily like a woman. I didn’t feel like a man. I just felt like a human.
“That’s what they/them is about for me. It’s just about, like, feeling human at your core.
“Recently, I’ve been feeling more feminine, and so I’ve adopted she/ her again.”
The 29-year-old star acknowledged it is easy for people to “mess up” pronouns and it is OK so long as they show “respect”.
She added: “But I think what’s important is, like, nobody’s perfect. Everyone messes up pronouns at some point, and especially when people are learning. It’s just all about respect.”
Demi explained last year using they/them pronouns helped her feel “most authentic”.
She said: “Over the past year-and-a-half, I’ve been doing some healing and self-reflective work. And through this work, I’ve had the revelation that I identify as non-binary. With that said, I’ll be officially changing my pronouns to they/them.
“I feel that this best represents the fluidity I feel in my gender expression and allows me to feel most authentic and true to the person I both know I am, and am still discovering.”