Dakota Fanning's Marc Jacobs Ad Banned by UK. Do You Think It's Too Racy?

Child star Dakota Fanning never went through much of an awkward stage. But her audience has. Watching the teenager move from family blockbusters to graphic rape scenes in indie films made viewers squirm. Now its the UK's Ad Standards Authority that's uneasy.

They're demanding a Marc Jacobs print ad featuring the 17-year-old child star be pulled immediately, because it's way too suggestive. "We considered that the length of her dress, her leg and position of the perfume bottle drew attention to her sexuality," an ASA spokesperson said in a statement.

"Because of that, along with her appearance, we considered the ad could be seen to sexualize a child. We therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible and was likely to cause serious offense."


Let's look at the facts: There's a young-looking 17-year-old dressed almost like a doll, holding a floral bottle of perfume in between her legs, in a way that would make Georgia O'Keefe blush. The model in question is a child by most standards, but by fashion industry standards she's five years shy of retirement. But maybe it's the fact that she still looks like "Dakota Fanning", star of "Uptown Girls", rather than Dakota Fanning, star of "The Runaways". If she were styled more like Taylor Momsen (fishnets, T-shirt, red lips) and less like a Victorian toddler, would the photo still be considered too suggestive?


And if she wasn't Dakota Fanning but an unknown 17-year-old model dressed like a toddler, do you think the ad still would have been banned?