Discount retailer The Warehouse has been ordered to remove a TV ad after it was found breaching advertising standards.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ordered the removal after the complaints board found that the advertisement was offensive because its humour is based on a stereotype that “girls aren’t good at maths”.

The regulator added that the ad was against the Decency and Offensiveness rule under the Advertising Standards Code.

The ad opens with the line “What does your bag say about you?”, followed by a range of different bags along with a guess about their likely owners.

In one example, a light purple backpack covered in unicorns and outfitted with a pink ribbon and light-coloured beads appeared with the text “can’t do long division”. This phrase is also part of the voiceover for this backpack. It is immediately followed by a girl’s giggle. 

This part of the ad prompted two complaints saying that it perpetuates the myth that “girls aren’t good at maths”.

In its defence, The Warehouse said the owner of the bag in question is likely a very young child, about 3-5 years old, while long division is not generally learnt until around Year 5.

The company added that it will take on board the feedback from the complainants and consider the overall stereotypes and other potentially relevant factors.

In light of the situation, the Free Speech Union said that the complaints reflected a “subjective interpretation” of the material and that the ASA’s decision “only stands to hurt and hinder the ability and trust of regulatory bodies”.

“The Advertising Standards Authority plays a vital role in ensuring material meets basic standards. However, they have abused their delegated authority here,” said Nathan Seiuli, the union’s spokesperson.

“If left unchallenged, it sets a dangerous precedent for future cases where subjective terms like ‘harmful’ and ‘offensive’ are used as justifications for censorship,” he added.