Gender stereotypes to be banned by UK advertising watchdog
Adverts depicting gender stereotypes are set to be banned in the UK with new regulations.
The UK Advertising Standards Authority are drawing up new regulations to crack down on advertisement that feature stereotypical gender roles.
The new regulations will come into effect next year.
After their annual report in 2016, the ASA decided to do a full investigation into the potential for harm or offence arising from the inclusion of gender stereotypes in ads.
The investigation was sparked by a number of complaints relating to advertisements featured in the UK.
The report said that gender stereotypes have the potential to cause harm by "inviting assumptions about adults and children that might negatively restrict how they see themselves and how others see them."
They said that this can lead to unequal gender outcomes in public and private aspects of people’s lives; outcomes, which are increasingly acknowledged to be detrimental to individuals, the economy and society in general.
Numerous academic studies show that advertising and mass media can have a profound effect individual's self image.
An example is the Aptamil ad which received complaints for stereotyping the children in the ad.
The ad shows the girl dreaming of becoming a ballerina and the boy as an engineer.
The findings of the report have prompted the UK watchdog to develop new standards and regulations which aim to target gender stereotypes.
This includes ads that mock people for not conforming to gender stereotypes.
This could be an ad that features a man trying and failing to undertake simple parental or household tasks.
They are also going to review existing standards on ads that objectify or inappropriately sexualise women and girls, and ads that suggest it is acceptable for young women to be unhealthily thin.
An example of this was the "Ride me all day for £3" advertising campaign by a Cardiff bus company in 2015.
The campaign which caused a huge backlash from the public for sexualising the ad and was removed soon after.
The ASA report said that it would be "inappropriate and unrealistic" to prevent ads from depicting a woman cleaning however, an ad which depicts family members creating mess while a woman has sole responsibility for cleaning it up would be seen as problematic.
An ad that suggests an activity is inappropriate for a girl because it is stereotypically associated with boys
or vice versa will also be banned.
You can read the full reporthere
