LONDON — Urban Outfitters has been forced to remove an "irresponsible" ad that features a model that looks "underweight" from its website by the Advertising Standards Authority.

A complainant said the model in the picture advertising women's briefs was "unhealthily thin" according to the ruling. The ASA upheld the complaint, and ordered the retailer to remove the photo from its website.

The advert has been banned by the UK's ASA.

"The ASA considered that the model was very thin, and noted, in particular, that there was a significant gap between the model's thighs, and that her thighs and knees were a similar width," the ruling states. "We considered that the model looked underweight in the picture."

"We understood that Urban Outfitters' target market was young people and considered that using a noticeably underweight model was likely to impress upon that audience that the image was representative of the people who might wear Urban Outfitters' clothing, and as being something to aspire to. We therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible."

Jo Swinson, the UK's Minister for Women and Equalities Jo Swinson endorsed the ruling, and said that a diverse range of mannequins and models can help challenge low body confidence among women.

Urban Outfitters responded to the complaint, telling the ASA that they didn't believe the model in the photo was underweight. They provided a copy of her agency profile and other photographs and stated that her waist size was 23.5 inches.

While the offending image has been banned, their site isn't short on similar pictures.

Polka dot briefs for sale on the Urban Outfitters site.

The company came under fire recently for selling "blood-stained" Kent State sweatshirts, which evoked memories of the Kent State Massacre at the Ohio university in 1970.

Topshop, meanwhile, was criticised for its skinny mannequins last October.