Dangerous curves? Lane Bryant at war with TV networks over sexy ad

A woman walks around her home in bra and panties, looking sexy and beautiful. Her phone reminds her of a lunch date, so she puts on a coat and walks out the door. Sounds like a scene you’d see any week on “Desperate Housewives” right? No, this is an ad for Lane Bryant’s Cacique lingerie line, and ABC (which airs “Housewives”) has decided it’s too sexy to show during “Dancing With the Stars.”

ABC, along with Fox, rejected the ad, saying model Ashley Graham was showing too much skin for the so-called Family Hour when DWTS and “American Idol” run. (Fox later agreed to run the ad during the final minutes of “American Idol.”)

Lane Bryant claims ABC and Fox are discriminating against normal-sized women, since both have aired “Victoria’s Secret” commercials during the same time slot. And have you seen some of the costumes on DWTS?

“There was absolutely no rationale for us to be relegated to the back of the bus, when our ads were no more risqué than those of Victoria’s Secret.  The only difference is the size of our models.  We would have expected better from a company owned by Disney,” a Lane Bryant spokesperson said.

ABC denies the ad was rejected at all, though documents appear to show otherwise.

According to Fox News:

A Lane Bryant insider noticed that a sexy Victoria’s Secret lingerie spot starring a skinny model had been slotted for “Idol” Tuesday night and complained about a double standard. That caused Fox to change its tune, the source said. “They wouldn’t run the ad, but have you seen the Victoria’s Secret spots? If you saw the Victoria’s Secret spot and our spot, you’d see nothing different,” the source added.

Model Graham spoke to TV station WPIX and said average-sized women should be allowed to see themselves on TV looking sexy in lingerie. “Honestly, it’s sad,” she said. “It’s sad to me; I feel bad for all the women who are plus size, who are curvier.”

Seems to me the networks don’t have a leg to stand on by saying the ad showed too much skin. Both air Victoria’s Secret ads, ABC’s DWTS features skimpy costumes each week, Fox has the extremely raunchy “Family Guy” and the women on ABC’s other big reality hit “The Bachelor” regularly flaunt their curves in bikinis.

But as Graham said: “When it comes to a little bit extra they just can’t handle it.”

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