Should Sex Sell? New Rules for Outdoor

The Government has ruled out plans for an outright ban on advertising to children, favouring a four-point plan to protect young people from inappropriate marketing.

The renewed responsibility comes as a result of a meeting between Prime Minister David Cameron and 30 organisations, including the Advertising Association (AA) and Advertising Standards Authority.

A pledge, drawn up by the AA, encourages advertisers to not use under-16s as brand ambassadors; agree to a voluntary ban on advertising near schools for adult services; follow stricter ASA guidelines on sexual images in outdoor ads and the creation of a one-stop website where concerned parents can air concerns about advertising issues.

Chief executive of the AA, Tim Lefroy, said: “Today, advertising and the brands it supports are recognised as playing an important and appropriate part in family life, but the PM made clear that we must remain in touch with our responsibilities.”

But Mike Baker, CEO of the Outdoor Media Centre (OMC), asks what constitutes sexualisation, and how far is too far? “The biggest challenge remains drawing the new line on what is allowable,” he says. “The OMC is doing further research as to which actual live ads really cause offence. My hunch is that the British public has a problem with very few outdoor ads. We are a long way from the days of FCUK and Benetton, after all.”

“Total complaints about all outdoor campaigns in 2010 numbered fewer than 2,000, and the majority of these complaints were not about indecency, but about inaccurate or misleading claims, such as broadband speeds.”

Mike points out that Wonderbra’s 17-year-old ‘Hello Boys' artwork has accompanied the story in recent press coverage. “I find it instructive that the journos can’t drum up more offensive and more recent material. Would 'Hello Boys' make it through the net at all these days? I really hope it still would as it was a brilliant piece of creative.”

Source: Brand Republic