Gender stereotyping to be banned in U.K. ads starting next year
Gender stereotyping will be banned in all U.K advertising beginning in spring 2018, confirmed various advertising bodies.
A review done in July of current ads by the Advertising Standards Authority found that certain gender depictions were “problematic” and that new guidelines will help companies know “where to draw the line.”
However, not all stereotyping will be banned. The current list of what’s off-limits includes showing a woman having sole responsibility for cleaning up after her family, a man failing to carry out general household tasks, and ads mocking people for not conforming to certain gender stereotypes.
But women can still be shown cleaning and men performing DIY tasks.
Several ads have received criticism over the years. One for Aptamil baby formula showed a girl growing up to become a ballerina while boys transformed into mathematicians and mountaineers.
In February, Early Learning Centre, a British business selling toys and other products for children, was shamed for promoting “sexist” fancy dress costumes including princesses for girls and doctors for boys.
“Some gender stereotypes in ads can contribute to harm for adults and children by limiting how people see themselves, how others see them, and potentially restricting the life decisions they take,” said Ella Smillie from the U.K.’s Committees of Advertising Practice.
“The introduction of a new advertising rule from 2018 will help advertisers to know where to draw the line on the use of acceptable and unacceptable stereotypes. We’ll set out our proposed new standards in Spring 2018 and openly consult on them.”
Many critics of current advertising in the U.K. also believed that a crackdown on body-shaming advertising would take place. However, despite ads like Protein World’s “Beach Body Ready” receiving thousands of complaints, there is no news on this yet.
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