AANA officially amends gender stereotyping guidelines
The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) has updated its gender stereotype guidelines to its members after flagging the changes in May.
Simone Brandon, the director of policy and regulatory affairs at the AANA, said the new guidelines endeavour to provide better guidance to agencies and advertisers so they don’t promote negative stereotypes as well as reinforcing responsible advertising.
The new guidelines advise advertisers and agencies on gender stereotypes that would breach of the Code of Ethics, such as showing a woman cleaning up the mess made by her family in an ad.
While not excluding all forms of gender stereotyping, the guidelines encourage advertisers to avoid depicting men and women in a way which would be unfavourable because of their gender.
“However, advertisers should take care to avoid suggesting that a particular role is exclusively performed by men or women,” Brandon said.
The updated guidelines come two months after the World Federation of Advertisers launched a new guide to help eradicate gender stereotypes.
Ad Standards said people are still able to complain to Ad Standards about negative gender stereotyping in advertising but welcomed the AANA’s additional guidance.
“Complaints about discrimination on the basis of gender, including gender stereotyping, can continue to be made to Ad Standards. Consumer complaints are determined by the Ad Standards Community Panel, which is comprised of members of the Australian public,” Fiona Jolly, CEO at Ad Standards said.
Abigail Dawson was Mumbrella's senior content journalist covering event content. She left Mumbrella to move into an agency role in 2020.
Linkedin
Can I make a complaint against the gendered depiction of low intelligence gambling addicts?
User ID not verified.