Dating ads offering chance to meet ‘lonely’ Ukrainian women banned

Online dating adverts offering the chance to meet “lonely” Ukrainian women have been banned for causing serious offence.

The UK’s advertising watchdog said that adverts for SofiaDate, seen online in May when the government was promoting its scheme for the public to house Ukrainian refugees, connected the women’s vulnerability to their sex appeal, and in doing so breached regulations.

The first ad, seen on the Dorset Echo’s website, featured an image of a woman on a balcony with text that stated “Ukranian [sic] Women. Meet Thousands of Lonely Ukrainian Women. Forget About Loneliness. Let Yourself be Happy”.

The second, seen on Scottish newspaper The National’s website, featured the same image with text that stated “Ukranian [sic] Women. Connecting Singles Across the World to Their Ideal Partner…”, while the third, on the same website, featured an image of a woman and stated “Ukranian [sic] Women … Sofiadate.com”.

The complainants, who felt the ads were inappropriate in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine, challenged whether they were offensive.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said that it understood that due to the ongoing war in Ukraine there was “heightened sensitivity” about references to the country, and the vulnerability of Ukrainian women had become an “area of public concern”.

At the time, there was already mounting concern about the risks of exploitation to Ukrainian women and their children coming to Britain under the Homes for Ukraine scheme after fleeing Vladimir Putin’s war. Under the scheme, Ukrainians are able to come to Britain and be hosted by members of the public.

In April, the UN urged the UK government to do more to prevent this cohort from being matched with single British men following reports that refugee women had been targeted on social media by predatory men offering them rooms in their homes.

The ASA concluded: “We considered that the women depicted in the ads were shown in a way that was, at least partly, designed to titillate readers – the model in ads (a) and (b) wore a low-cut kimono-style robe, and the model in ad (c) wore a body-hugging midi dress.”

We considered the ads’ focus on Ukrainian women dressed in the aforementioned manner, as well as references to their loneliness, had the effect of highlighting their vulnerability and connecting it to their sexual appeal. For that reason, we concluded the ads were likely to cause serious offence.”

Astrasoft Projects, trading as SofiaDate, said it had removed the ads.

Newsquest Media Group, owner of The National and Dorset Echo, said the ads were “ostensibly conventional dating ads, although potentially clumsily sexist in their portrayal of women from a male perspective”.

They argued the ads did not refer to the war in Ukraine, were not partisan, and were also not unsympathetic towards Ukrainian women or the Ukrainian people in general.

However, they said that on reflection they could be inconsistent with their policy of refusing ads for prostitution and trafficking, and confirmed they had since been removed.