Louis Vuitton's latest ad campaign has been banned—and not because of the French fashion brand's heavy retouching. In fact, the evisceration of Madonna's wrinkles is apparently far more acceptable than insinuating that the brand's handbags are, in fact, made by hand. "Despite ads showing a 'seamstress with linen thread' and boasting of 'infinite patience,' bags bearing the trademark pattern of an interwoven 'L' and 'V' are predominantly created by machine," reported the Daily Mail earlier this week. The fact that LV's heritage-themed ad campaign suggests otherwise has lead the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) to ban two of LV's advertisements.

High-fashion brands' emphasis on lineage is of course nothing new, but it was back in February that this post-recession trend really started taking root. "High-fashion brands are attempting to highlight their lineage, from a Louis Vuitton line of wallets called 'heritage,' to Prada’s recent 708-page book about its history, to Gucci's planning to start a museum in Florence in 2011 for its 90th anniversary," I wrote. While Louis Vuitton's current campaign is no doubt misleading, doesn't the ASA have bigger fish to fry? Retouching, for one?