ROME – Italian fashion giant Dolce and Gabbana withdrew on Friday an advertisement from Spain which authorities and consumer activists said encouraged violence against women.

“We are withdrawing this photo only from the Spanish market. They have shown themselves to be a bit backward,” the firm said in Milan where it is based, daily newspaper El Periodico reported.

“What does an artistic photo have to do with real acts?” it added.

The ad depicts a bare-chested man using his hands to pin a woman dressed in a black evening dress and high heeled shoes to the ground, as four other men in various stages of undress look on.

Earlier this week Spain’s Women’s Institute, a branch of the labor ministry, said the ad “not only reduces women to a sexual object but the image sends the message that the use of force as a means to achieve subjugation is admissible.”

Consumer group Facua meanwhile said it had also asked Dolce and Gabbana to withdraw the ad, which it said depicted “macho violence,” from its international catalogue.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has made the fight against domestic violence and machismo a priority of his Socialist government.

In Spain, 2 million women say they are the victims of physical or psychological abuse.

Madrid tried to address the issue by passing a tough law last year that increased sentences for this kind of the violence.

It also offered victims legal, health, financial, and psychological aid and set up special tribunals to hear the cases.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news