The War on Porn Regular Updates about the Assault on The Adult Industry
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LOS ANGELES—Collective Shout, an Australian anti-pornography group, announced Thursday that it successfully pressured Honey Birdette, the Playboy-owned lingerie retailer, to withdraw certain advertising from a shopping mall near Perth.
The group described the outcome as a “flash win” in its campaign against what it called “porn-themed” marketing.
Collective Shout, co-founded by self-described “pro-life feminist” Melinda Tankard Reist, positions itself as a prominent anti-pornography organization in Australia and has often compared its efforts to similar conservative-led advocacy groups in the United States.
Honey Birdette has been in Collective Shout’s crosshairs for years. In August 2025, the group objected to the retailer’s advertising of lingerie products featuring BDSM-inspired accessories such as chains, collars, and leashes. The complaint was filed with Australia’s advertising industry regulatory body, Ad Standards, which later closed the matter after Honey Birdette addressed the concerns. Similar cases have been raised by Collective Shout against the brand multiple times in the past.
“Playboy-owned sex shop Honey Birdette has been forced to remove two porn-style shop window ads following our reports to Ad Standards,” the blog post declared. “The ads promoting a range called ‘Sumi – Leopard’ featured objectifying portrayals of naked women.”
The complaint targeted ads promoting Honey Birdette’s Sumi collection, which the company describes as “inspired by sheer bodysuits and bodystockings.” The line includes lingerie sets, catsuits, headpieces, and other items in black and leopard print designs.
Collective Shout said the ads objectified women and were inappropriate for children visiting the Perth shopping mall. The group emphasized that the ads were displayed in close proximity to a children’s stage show, describing the venue as a “family shopping center.”
While the group highlighted this proximity in its complaint, it did not provide exact measurements of the distance between the advertisements and the stage show. Still, Ad Standards acted quickly after receiving the reports.
“Less than 24 hours after lodging our reports, Ad Standards replied with a notice advising that Honey Birdette had confirmed the ads had been ‘modified or removed and the original advertisement will not be used again on this medium,’” Collective Shout wrote in its post.
Following the removal, the group is now urging its supporters to continue the campaign by filing additional complaints with Ad Standards and petitioning executives of the shopping center’s parent company to suspend Honey Birdette’s marketing campaigns across all of their properties in Australia.
Honey Birdette, founded in 2006 in Australia, was acquired in 2021 by the NASDAQ-listed PLBY Group, parent company of Playboy and other brands, as part of a strategy to expand its global retail footprint and e-commerce operations. The lingerie chain operates stores across Australia as well as in the United States and other international markets.
