Body shaming and offensive posters to be banned
As a result of a billboard advertisement that was spotted on the tube in London in 2015, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has cracked down on harmful or disrespectful images, and these types of adverts could be banned under a new role.
Wednesday, 23 May 2018 08:55 GMT
This poster from 2015 was the cause of debate and outrage from some who said that it was ‘sexist’ and ‘body shaming’
The billboard from Protein World presented a slim and toned woman, with the caption, ‘Are you beach body ready?’ as an advert for the brand’s weight loss supplements. It received hundreds of complaints after members of the public found the image offensive to those with different body shapes.
CAP works alongside the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), which promote the codes that agencies must follow. One of those rules is no gender stereotyping as well as no body shaming, which the Protein World advert fell foul to.
Talking to The Guardian, Ella Smillie, the lead on the gender stereotyping project at CAP, explains: “Our review of the evidence strongly indicates that particular forms of gender stereotypes in ads can contribute to harm for adults and children by limiting how people see themselves and how others see them and the life decisions they take.
Particular forms of gender stereotypes in ads can contribute to harm for adults and children by limiting how people see themselves”
“The set of standards we’re proposing aims to tackle harmful gender stereotypes in ads while ensuring that creative freedom expressed within the rules continues to be protected.”
At the time, the ASA banned the advert from being on the London Underground, but Protein World has a habit of body shaming and arguably sexist adverts. To begin with, Protein World argued that the company worked hard with the ASA to adhere to standards and that the advert only asked if the people felt confident about being on the beach in public in swimwear, not that they should all look like the model. The adverts were eventually defaced, and a petition was set up with more than 70,000 signatures.
Now, in 2018, advertisements and posters of this nature could be banned. Adverts with arguably unhealthily thin models have also been banned. The new guidelines are aiming to stop offensive or disrespectful images from impacting members of the public in a negative way.
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