'Harmful' gender stereotypes in adverts banned
Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2019 4:19 pm
Interesting that the UK government is focusing on 'harmful' gender steroetyping but there are many other forms of sterotyping that could be considered.
Advertising is a tough one because you want to appeal to a certain market and to paint your product in a positive light. I find it very noticeable that in pharma ads on tv in the US, actors are overwhelmingly white, thin / healthy looking and prosperous. The Peleton ads show people in multi $$$ million pads. Characters who they wish to knock / parody are sometimes overweight and disheveled (thinking in particular about the Nationwide advert in the UK)
So, on something as nebulous as gender it is going to be interesting to see what is thought of as acceptable and what is 'harmful'. I know that the whole subject of gender is debated on here at length and there are different opinions on just what gender is. I wonder if there will be some enterprising ad agency out there who will rise to the challenge and do something innovative with this edict?
Advertising is a tough one because you want to appeal to a certain market and to paint your product in a positive light. I find it very noticeable that in pharma ads on tv in the US, actors are overwhelmingly white, thin / healthy looking and prosperous. The Peleton ads show people in multi $$$ million pads. Characters who they wish to knock / parody are sometimes overweight and disheveled (thinking in particular about the Nationwide advert in the UK)
So, on something as nebulous as gender it is going to be interesting to see what is thought of as acceptable and what is 'harmful'. I know that the whole subject of gender is debated on here at length and there are different opinions on just what gender is. I wonder if there will be some enterprising ad agency out there who will rise to the challenge and do something innovative with this edict?