AN advertisement featuring three women opening their legs has been labelled sexist by a Mount Beauty woman.
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Corinne Dawson and her parents saw the 18-second video at Regent Cinemas before a recent screening of The Hobbit.
The 19-year-old believes the cinema should pull the advertisement for Albury jewellery store Tremonti.
The advertisement features three women sitting cross-legged, who open their legs once presented with a diamond ring.
The clip finishes with a voice saying “Tremonti, always gets you what you want”.
“It’s extremely sexist in nature and I took my complaint to the jewellery store and the cinema,” Miss Dawson said.
“This advertisement sends the message that men are entitled to a woman’s body if they buy her jewellery.”
See the controversial video below.
Miss Dawson said her parents were also disgusted and she had overheard a woman in the audience saying “that’s a bit gross”.
Tremonti owner Karin Tremonti sent a letter apologising to Miss Dawson.
Mrs Tremonti said she considered some people would find the advert offensive, but the campaign was about “opening anybody’s imagination”.
“It’s not in any way meant to be degrading to women,” she said.
Mrs Tremonti, who features in the video in the green dress to the left of the screen, said the campaign had a great response.
“I have been to see it myself and the response from the audience was amusing and entertaining,” she said.
“People see the humour in it and this is the main purpose.”
The advertisement, filmed in the Kiewa Street store, was made specifically for Regent Cinemas and had received an M rating.
Regent Cinemas general manager Doug Henderson said the advertisement had been rated M by the commercial code of practice.
“The advertisement was playing in M rated movies as per the censorship classification,” he said.
“We received two complaints and decided to internally increase the rating to MA. This means it will now only appear on MA and R rated movies.”