Sydney Mardi Gras postcard ‘exploitative, degrading and highly sexualised’ rules ad watchdog
The Advertising Standards Board (ASB) has said a print ad promoting the Sydney Mardi Gras was exploitative, degrading and highly sexualised.
The Avant Card postcard promoted #theresonlyoneparty and featured an image by artist Elvis Di-Fazio which depicted an oiled and naked man sitting on the back of a female dressed in black underwear and fishnet stockings with the pair perched on a kitchen bench.
A long complaint to the ASB said the ad promoted “the sexual domination of females that reflects the message that this is acceptable and normal behaviour”.
“My concern is that this postcard is freely available to people of any age including children in cafes, retail outlets, theatres etc and that it sends a message that Australian society tolerates – indeed promotes – sexual domination of women and that the ideal female is one who is willing to go down on all fours to enable a man to ride her.
We’ve come a long way since Andrew Denton in 1993 featured an interview with a fully naked Forum Man Of the Year. Not. As Joe Jackson sang in Real Men (1981) – “We think it’s getting better but nobody’s really sure”.
RE: Latest ad for Coopers Mid. If you can handle a bit of constructive critic, your recent ad does absolutely nothing for your good quality beer, very poor. I could easily put something much better together than what you already have. The ad at present doesn’t come across, You have a good product which I enjoy, there is a way to tell it. Regards Dave Bauer.
Mumbrella team: there isn’t an “s” on Mardi – and it’s “Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras” – not Sydney Mardi Gras. 🙂
@Rob.. you are right with the “s” but the Gay and Lesbian has now been dropped from the name.
so faux pas
Any suggestion (evidence, even) of where the complaint came from?