Harvey Nichols sparks outrage with sale ads

Luxury department store Harvey Nichols has followed up its controversial Christmas ‘Walk of Shame’ campaign with a model who appears to have wet herself with the tagline ‘try to contain your excitement’ to launch its annual summer sale.

The Knightsbridge store sent the imagery out to thousand of potential customers to promote the sale, and was developed around the infamous phrase "It was so good, I almost peed my pants!" uttered by Julia Roberts in the cult 90s movie, Pretty Woman. While the store was aiming for a light-hearted campaign a lot of its recipients criticise the campaign for being "crass" and off-putting on social networking site Twitter.

One user said: “Really, Harvey Nicks? Really? They’re certainly pushing the boundaries.”

One woman posted: “that absolutely does not make me the slightest bit inclined to shop there!”

Another Tweeter added: “Anyone in advertising? Even if not - take a look at the WORST advertising I’ve ever seen & it’s for @Harvey-Nichols.”

One stated: “Not tongue in cheek, just disgraceful @Harvey_Nichols recent advert just ensured I never shop there again #fail #containyourself.”

Harvey Nichols has responded to the criticism by releasing this statement: "We developed the campaign to promote our summer sale and capture the excitement in a light-hearted, humorous way. The images in our advertising were designed to be a visual representation of a well-known phrase.

"We researched the use of this expression in popular culture and social media and were satisfied that is both commonplace and invariably used in a playful, inoffensive manner, which was in-keeping with the tongue-in-cheek spirit in which we intended our campaign to be taken."

The controversial campaign comes after the company narrowly avoided a ban from the Advertising Standards Authority for its notorious ‘Walk of Shame’ advert, which ran on TV last December.

The advertising watchdog received complaints that the advert was offensive and sexist after it featured scenes of a variety of dishevelled women wearing short, figure-hugging party dresses heading home, the morning after a heavy night out. However, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the depiction of women in this way was "unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence".

Images: Harvey Nichols Summer Sale Ads