French TV show in hot water over nude shower gel shoot

The eighth episode of the reality TV show Marseillais vs le Reste du monde 2, first broadcast on the W9 channel on 12 September, asked the participants to take part in a series of “photoshoot” and “advert style” tasks, which involved them taking provocative and intimate poses in a bath, while holding the shower gel bottle with its brand clearly visible.

However, the Swedish shower gel company in question, Sachajuan, had not given its permission to be used on-screen, and has complained to production company Banijay about its use.

The company, founded in 2004, says it prides itself on quality, professionalism and elegance, and has complained that the TV show did not support these values.

“We were not aware of such an approach and are unhappy with the image shown in this photoshoot,” explained Roland Hurel, Sachajuan's export manager and international distributor, as reported by French news channel 20 Minutes.

However, some have criticised the company itself, saying that it is being snobbish, and is only unhappy because of the perceived "class" of people who watch reality TV.

Hurel defended the brand, saying: “We only work with serious media that respect the identity of the work we do, which is clearly not based on vulgarity. We don't understand why our brand was associated with this.

“We believe that the producers intentionally wanted to harm us. We are thinking about what we might do to get redress.”