Prada ad With Oscar Hailee Steinfeld BANNED

 The Prada fashion giant has been censured over the use of ‘dangerous’ images featuring

Oscar nominated child actress Hailee Steinfeld.

An advertisement for the label’s Miu Miu range showed the 14-year-old sitting alone and apparently upset and crying on a railway track.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a complaint that it was ‘irresponsible’ because it was suggestive of youth suicide.

The watchdog rejected this concern, but has ruled the image broke industry codes because it showed a child in an unsafe location.

The teenager achieved instant fame last year after she received an Oscar nomination for her role in a remake of the classic Western True Grit.

Prada defended the advertisement saying it was part of a ‘serious, high-fashion campaign aimed at adult women’ and that it was placed only in adult, high-fashion magazines such as Tatler.

It said the image was meant to portray the actress in between takes of the film, while she was waiting for the next scene to begin. 

The firm said Miss Steinfeld was not crying, nor had she been asked to cry or look upset. Rather, they said the ad pictured her with a ‘wistful and thoughtful face’.

Prada also highlighted the fact that no-one was put in any danger because the images, which were shot by top photographer and film maker Bruce Weber, were taken on an abandoned rail track.

However, the ASA said: ‘Because the ad showed Hailee Steinfeld, who was 14 years of age only when the photo was shot, in a potentially hazardous situation sitting on a railway track, we concluded the ad was irresponsible and in breach of the Code in showing a child in a hazardous or dangerous situation.

‘The ad must not appear again in its current form.’

Prada is not the only firm under fire for its use of child models.

Marc Jacobs attracted criticism earlier this year with the decision to use 13-year-old Elle Fanning in his advertising campaign.

Daily Mail Style Director Liz Jones said at the time she was shocked by the choice of such a young spokesmodels.

She told MailOnline: 'I find it obscene that children of 13 and 14, no matter if she is a star, no matter how sophisticated, are used to peddle designer fashion, surely as bad for teen girls as smoking or underage sex.'

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